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ISTANBUL (AP) – The son of the murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi has left Saudi Arabia after the cancellation of a travel ban by the kingdom, allowing him to come to the United States – the latest episode from the saga of the Saudi writer and dissident murdered earlier this month at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul shocked the world.
State Department spokesman Robert Palladino said Washington welcomed the decision to have Salah Khashoggi and his family leave Saudi Arabia. His American destination was not known immediately, but his late father lived in the Washington area.
Palladino said Thursday that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had discussed Jamal Khashoggi's son during his recent visit to Riyadh and had "made it clear" to Saudi leaders that Washington wanted him to be free to leave the kingdom.
"We are delighted that he is now able to do that," said Palladino. The Saudi media showed Khashoggi's son in a meeting on Tuesday with the crown prince, who would have offered his condolences.
Palladino also said that Pompeo had attended a presentation of the death of the former Washington Post writer by CIA director Gina Haspel on her return from Turkey. The White House has not disclosed any details of their meeting.
The events came after the kingdom on Thursday cited evidence that the assassination of Khashoggi was premeditated, thus altering his story in an attempt to alleviate the international outrage provoked by the assassination of Khashoggi. A prominent critic of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
This announcement went against an earlier Saudi claim that dishonest officials of the kingdom allegedly killed Khashoggi in a fight inside their consulate in Istanbul. That statement, in turn, returned to an initial statement that the Saudi authorities did not know anything about what had happened to the Washington Post columnist, who had disappeared after entering the consulate on 2 October.
The changing explanations indicate that Saudi Arabia is seeking a way out of the crisis that has hit the world's largest oil exporter and a major US ally in the Middle East. But a solution seems remote, partly because of growing skepticism in Turkey and elsewhere, according to which the brazen crime could have been committed without the knowledge of Prince Mohammed, the apparent heir of the kingdom.
At a conference in Riyadh on Wednesday, the Crown Prince said that the killing was a "heinous crime that could not be justified" and warned against any attempt to "manipulate" the crisis and to build a rift between Saudi Arabia and Turkey, regional rivals as well as diplomatic and commercial partners.
On Thursday, Prince Mohammed participated in the first meeting of a committee to restructure the kingdom's intelligence services after the killing of Khashoggi, the state-run Saudi news agency said. .
Khashoggi's death derailed the powerful prince's campaign to portray a modern image of the ultra-conservative country, highlighting the brutal efforts of some top government officials to silence his detractors. Khashoggi, who lived in voluntary exile in the United States for nearly a year before his death, had criticized Prince Mohammed's crackdown on dissent.
Saudi Attorney General Saud al-Mojeb said the latest findings of a joint investigation between Turkey and Saudi Arabia were linked to information provided by his Turkish counterparts. The evidence of the Turkish investigators "indicates that the suspects of the incident had committed their act with a premeditated intention," says the Saudi statement.
After the disappearance of the journalist, Saudi Arabia first insisted that Khashoggi had left the consulate after visiting the building. He then abandoned that account for a new account, claiming that he had arrested 18 people for what he described as an accidental killing during a "hand-to-hand fight" ".
What President Donald Trump has called "one of the worst cover-ups in the history of cover-ups" has been revealed to the world by Turkish information leaks, including hints of alleged audio recordings of the murder and security images taken by Saudi officials who were involved while traveling around Istanbul.
Saudi officials told the Associated Press this week that the kingdom had sent to Turkey a team consisting of a forensic scientist and a member whose job was to don the clothes of the police. 39, a 59-year-old writer and pretending to be himself, even though they insisted too late. like Tuesday that his death was an accident.
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Batrawy reported in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
