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PHOTO FILE: A protester holds a poster with a photo of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in front of the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, on October 25, 2018. REUTERS / Osman Orsal / File PhotoReuters
BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany has banned 18 Saudi citizens from murdering journalist Jamal Khashoggi, perpetrated in the Riyadh consulate in Istanbul, to enter the Schengen area of the zone without a passport from the Union European.
Monday's decision represents a hardening of the position of Germany, which banned last month to sell arms to Saudi Arabia until the circumstances of the assassination of Khashoggi were fully cleared.
This suggests that Berlin is ready to use its influence as the largest EU country to push for a tougher European line, since the ban will actually apply to the 26 countries of the Schengen zone.
"We have been closely coordinating with our French and British friends and have decided, as Germany, to impose a ban on entry to their names in the Schengen System database", said Foreign Ministry spokesman, Christofer Burger, at a regular press conference.
Any member of the Schengen area may unilaterally impose a binding entry ban on any individual considered to pose a security risk. France is part of the zone, not Britain.
Nevertheless, it is unusual to impose such a large number of bans at a time in such a politically sensitive matter.
Burger said that members of the squad made up of 15 people accused of murdering the head of Saudi politics, and three other suspects of the organization, were hit with a ban d & # 39; entry. He refused to name the individuals.
Asked if Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, accused by US intelligence of ordering the murder, was among them, Burger declined to comment.
Saudi prosecutors said last week that the Crown Prince, the de facto Saudi ruler, knew nothing about the operation in which Khashoggi's body had been dismembered, removed from the building and turned over to a non-local "cooperator". identified.
A spokeswoman for the Interior Ministry said the ban applies to holders of diplomatic passports held by many members of the Saudi royal family.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Economy said the ban on allowing arms exports to Saudi Arabia remained in effect. "There is no weapons export in Germany from Saudi Arabia at the moment," he said.
(Report by Thomas Escritt and Riham Alkousaa, edited by Michelle Martin and Alison Williams)
Copyright 2018 Thomson Reuters.
