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Riyadh (AFP) – Saudi King Salman has surrendered alongside the crown prince and praised the judiciary on Monday during his first public address since the assassination of critic Jamal Khashoggi. which plunged the country into one of the worst crises.
On October 2, the Attorney General exonerated Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, son of the king, of his involvement in the assassination of the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, but the CIA reportedly found that he had ordered the assassination.
The prosecutor claimed the death penalty against five men, announced the indictment of 11 people and reported that a total of 21 people were in custody for the murder.
"The kingdom was founded on the Islamic principles of justice and equality, and we are proud of the efforts of the judiciary and the prosecution," said the 82-year-old monarch in his annual speech to the Council of the Shura, one of the main advisory bodies.
"We are ensuring that our country will never deviate from the application of God's law without discrimination," he added, without directly addressing the murder of the Washington Post columnist in his speech.
In the absolute monarchy of Saudi Arabia, only the king has the power to oust the powerful Crown Prince – who faces intense criticism of the murder – but has repeatedly stated that he did not intend to do it.
In his speech, the king praised his son's economic reform program, which aimed to create jobs for a growing youth population and to prepare the kingdom for a post-brutal period.
Saudi TV channel Al-Arabiya announced that the prince would attend the next summit of the Group of 20 in Argentina, his first trip abroad since the murder.
Defiant, the prince will meet international leaders from Turkey, the United States and other European countries at the two-day summit starting November 30.
"The Crown Prince sends a very clear message to the international community: nothing they said or done about the Khashoggi case will interfere with the Saudi decision-making process," said Kristian Ulrichsen, member of the Baker Institute at Rice University in the United States.
"In reality, he dares his international critics to put their rhetoric into action and bets that they will not do it."
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who claims that the assassination orders come from the "highest levels" of the Saudi government, promised that no concealment of the crime would be allowed.
But US President Donald Trump hailed Saudi Arabia as "a truly spectacular ally" and refrained from blaming Prince Mohammed despite the CIA's report that he was origin of the murder.
Saudi Arabia – which quickly rejected the CIA's findings – recounted what had happened. He first stated that Khashoggi had left the embassy after receiving his documents and that he was later killed after a degenerate fight.
In the latest version, the Saudi prosecutor said that a 15-member team had gone to Istanbul to bring Khashoggi back into the kingdom "by persuasion", but had killed him during the course of his life. 39, a dishonest operation.
The United States has punished 17 Saudis for the crime, including Prince Mohammed's close aides, and is expected to draw final conclusions this week on the assassination.
As a sign of new international pressure, Germany announced on Monday that it would ban 18 Saudis from entering its territory and into the European zone without a Schengen passport because of their alleged links to the killing.
The king and crown prince resumed Monday an unprecedented national tour with a visit to the northern region of Tabuk, seeking to strengthen ties with various tribes and religious leaders and to strengthen their support.
The visit follows a trip to the central province of Qassim and the nearby Hail region earlier this month.
King Salman pardoned some "insolvent prisoners" on his travels and ordered the resumption of annual bonus payments – which had been suspended due to austerity measures in 2016 – to all government employees from beginning of next year.
"The actions suggest a campaign within the kingdom to strengthen support within the ruling family and demonstrate public confidence in the Crown Prince," said Kristin Diwan, of the Arab Institute of Gulf States in Washington .
"The king, relying on the more traditional assets of prestige and clientelism, played a central role in these efforts, with the clear aim of preserving the most valuable fulfillment of his reign: the consolidation of power and the domination of future in the hands of his direct descendant. "
