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MANAMA, Bahrain – The Saudi Foreign Minister on Saturday rejected the appeal of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to try the killers of dissident commentator Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey, saying that the arrested men would be brought to justice in Saudi Arabia.
Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir called the international outrage "to be quite hysterical" and said that once the Saudi inquiry is over, the suspects would be held accountable of their actions "in Saudi Arabia".
"Unfortunately, this hysteria reigned in the media before the end of the investigation," he said at a panel organized at the Manama Dialogue, organized by the International Institute of Human Rights. 39 strategic studies in Manama, the capital of Bahrain.
Mr. Khashoggi, a Virginia resident and columnist for the Washington Post, who is critical of the current leadership of Saudi Arabia, was killed on October 2 by a team of Saudi agents at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.
Turkish officials said the agents had dismembered Mr. Khashoggi with a bone saw to dispose of the body, as part of a premeditated assassination. Many current and former Western officials have claimed that such an operation would only have been authorized by the Saudi de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Mr. Jubeir's statements on Saturday resulted in the dismissal of Mr. Erdogan's extradition request, as scheduled. Nor did the Foreign Minister respond directly to questions about how the kingdom would convince his allies that Prince Mohammed had no connection with the murder.
Saudi Arabia acknowledged that Mr. Khashoggi had died inside the consulate only after more than two weeks of evolution. In a statement released last Saturday, the kingdom said its investigators had concluded that Saudi agents had strangled Mr. Khashoggi during a fight that broke out as they tried to persuade him to return voluntarily to his home. .
On Thursday, however, the kingdom seemed to review its story, claiming that Turkey had provided evidence that the murder had been premeditated.
This revelation seemed to have been planned to anticipate a report to President Trump of the director of the IAC, Gina Haspel, who visited Ankara, the Turkish capital, last week. Turkish officials said they had audio recordings of murders committed inside the consulate, presumably obtained through surveillance, and Ms Haspel had to hear these recordings.
The kingdom said it had arrested 18 Saudis in connection with the killing. The royal court also fired a number of senior intelligence officials, declared by Saudi officials, for orchestrating the operation or helping to conceal it.
Saud al-Qahtani, Prince Mohammed's close adviser, was also reportedly fired. He allegedly played a role in creating an environment conducive to violence against Mr. Khashoggi. But neither Qahtani nor intelligence officials have been arrested by the kingdom, which raises questions about his commitment to hold them accountable.
In his comments Saturday, Saudi Foreign Minister Jubeir said the kingdom's alliance with the United States was "unthinking". He praised Trump's regional foreign policy as "rational, realistic".
After the investigation, he added, "we will know the truth".
"We are going to put measures in place so that it does not happen again," he said. "And we will be transparent about it."
