Saudi crown prince approved murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi: U.S. intelligence report

Saudi Arabia's crown prince likely approved the killing of U.S.-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, according to a newly declassified U.S. intelligence report released Friday.

The finding could escalate pressure on the Biden administration to hold the kingdom accountable for a murder that drew widespread outrage in the U.S. and abroad.

"We assess that Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved an operation in Istanbul, Turkey, to capture or kill Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi," the report said.

"Since 2017, the Crown Prince has had absolute control of the Kingdom's security and intelligence organizations, making it highly unlikely that Saudi officials would have carried out an operation of this nature without the Crown Prince's authorization."

The public blaming of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman amounted to an extraordinary rebuke and was likely to set the tone for the new administration's relationship with a country U.S. President Joe Biden has criticized, but which the White House also regards in some contexts as a strategic partner.

The conclusion that the prince approved an operation to kill or capture Khashoggi, a U.S. resident who wrote opinion columns for the Washington Post critical of the crown prince's policies, was based on what intelligence officials know about his role in decision-making inside the kingdom as well as the involvement of one of his key advisers, Saud al-Qahtani, and members of his protective detail, according to the report from the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

Officials also factored in the prince's past support for using violent measures to silence dissidents abroad, the report said.

As Democrats in Congress clamoured for aggressive action, the State Department responded by announcing visa restrictions on 76 Saudi individuals involved in threatening dissidents abroad.

"As a matter of safety for all within our borders, perpetrators targeting perceived dissidents on behalf of any foreign government should not be permitted to reach American soil," said Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

WATCH | U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on impact of report's release:

'Saudi Arabia remains an important partner': America's top diplomat

4 years ago

Duration 0:58

Asked Thursday, ahead of the release of the declassified intelligence report into the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, how that report would influence Washington's policy with Riyadh, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CBC chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton that "Saudi Arabia remains an important partner for the United States on a whole host of issues."

"The United States will continue to shine a light on any government that targets individuals, either domestically or extraterritorially, merely for exercising their human rights and fundamental freedoms."

Saudi Arabia's state news agency reported the country's foreign ministry rejected the report's findings.

"The government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia completely  rejects the .... assessment in the report pertaining to the 
Kingdom's leadership, and notes that the report contained  inaccurate information and conclusions," it said in a statement. 

Canada's foreign affairs minister, Marc Garneau, repeated a call for an independent inquiry. He said Saudi Arabia's government needs to be open about what happened.

WATCH | Canada's foreign affairs minister reacts to declassified report on Khashoggi's death:

Garneau says Canada will review report on 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi

4 years ago

Duration 1:58

Foreign Affairs Minister Marc Garneau says Canada will review the unclassified report released by the U.S. government about the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

The declassified report was released one day after a later-than-usual courtesy call from Biden to Saudi King Salman, though a White House summary of the conversation made no mention of the killing and said instead that the men had discussed the countries' longstanding partnership.

The kingdom's state-run Saudi Press Agency similarly did not mention Khashoggi's killing in its report about the call, rather focusing on regional issues such as Iran and the ongoing war in Yemen.

Report may impact U.S.-Saudi relations

The milder tone on the call was in contrast to Biden's pledge as a candidate to make Saudi Arabia "a pariah" over the killing.

Once in office, Biden has said he would maintain whatever scale of relations with Saudi Arabia that U.S. interests required. He also ordered an end to U.S. support for the Saudi-led bombing campaign in Yemen and said he would stop the sale of offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia. He's given few details of what weapons and support he meant.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Friday that the administration has been clear that it will "recalibrate our relationship" with Saudi Arabia.

Democrats, meanwhile, pressed for strong action.

Rep. Adam Schiff, chairman of the House intelligence committee, urged the Biden administration to make sure the report leads to "serious repercussions against all of the responsible parties it has identified, and also reassess our relationship with Saudi Arabia."

Agnès Callamard, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, said there should also be consequences for the crown prince.

"The United States government should impose sanctions against the crown prince, as it has done for the other perpetrators – targeting his personal assets but also his international engagements," Callamard said on Facebook before the report's release.

"Banishing those responsible for ordering the execution of Jamal Khashoggi from the international stage is an important step towards justice and key to sending the strongest message possible to would-be perpetrators the world over."

WATCH | UN special rapporteur talks about Khashoggi case:

UN special rapporteur on the Khashoggi report

4 years ago

Duration 3:02

UN Special Rapporteur Agnes Callamard says, "once the DNI report is out with what I hope to be clear evidence of his culpability, it is going to be very difficult for the U.S. and like minded states to continue ignoring that they are dealing with a calculated killer."

Lured to consulate

Khashoggi had gone to the Saudi Consulate to pick up documents needed for his wedding. Once inside, he died at the hands of more than a dozen Saudi security and intelligence officials and others who had assembled ahead of his arrival. Surveillance cameras had tracked his route and those of his alleged killers in Istanbul in the hours leading up to his killing.

A Turkish bug planted at the consulate reportedly captured the sound of a forensic saw, operated by a Saudi colonel who was also a forensics expert, dismembering Khashoggi's body within an hour of his entering the building. The whereabouts of his remains remain unknown.

The prince said in 2019 he took "full responsibility" for the killing since it happened on his watch, but denied ordering it. Saudi officials have said Khashoggi's killing was the work of rogue Saudi security and intelligence officials.

Twenty-one men were arrested in the killing and five senior officials were fired, including the deputy intelligence chief, Ahmad Asiri, and Saud al-Qahtani, a senior aide to the crown prince.

Saudi Arabian courts last year announced they had sentenced eight Saudi nationals to prison in Khashoggi's killing. They were not identified.

After the report's release, Khashoggi's fiancée, Hatice Cengiz, tweeted: "Justice for Jamal."