BICOM

What happened: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) gave a rare interview where he said that he is accountable for the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

• Speaking in a documentary, set to air on 1 October, a day before the first anniversary of Khashoggi’s death, Bin Salman said: “I get all the responsibility, because it happened under my watch.” However, he insisted that it was carried out without his knowledge.
• Khashoggi was murdered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and eleven Saudi men have been put on trial in Saudi Arabia for the murder, which the Saudi Government claim was a rogue operation that went wrong.
• When questioned by Frontline reporter Martin Smith on how the murder could have happened without him knowing about it – specifically referring to the 15-member team taking a private government plane to Turkey – the Crown Prince said: “We have 3 million government employees … I have officials, ministers to follow things, and they’re responsible, they have the authority to do that.”
• Earlier this month, a Turkish newspaper released transcripts of audio recordings of Khashoggi’s final moments. According to reports, in the 10 minutes before he was killed, Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb, a senior Saudi intelligence officer and the bodyguard of Crown Prince Mohammed, asked Khashoggi to “leave a message” for his son telling him not to worry if he could not reach the journalist. Khashoggi’s last words before losing consciousness were: “I have asthma. Do not do it, you will suffocate me.”
• Saudi Arabia announced today that it will offer tourist visas to citizens of 49 countries for the first time, as part of a move to diversify its economy away from oil sales. Tourism in the Kingdom contributes just 3 per cent of the gross domestic product, which the government hopes to increase to 10 per cent by 2030 with 100m annual visitors. Last year Saudi Arabia began issuing temporary visas to visitors to attend sporting and cultural events.

Context: Khashoggi’s killing resulted in worldwide outrage and condemnation of Bin Salman, who had been viewed by Western nations as a young, progressive leader in the deeply conservative kingdom.

• In July 2019, UN special rapporteur, Agnes Callamard, published a report for the UN Human Rights Council which attributed state responsibility for the killing of Khashoggi to Saudi Arabia. The report criticised Saudi handling of the investigation, said the criminal trial lacked transparency and called on the UN Security Council to initiate a criminal investigation.
• In November 2018, the US Treasury imposed sanctions on 17 Saudi nationals for their role in Khashoggi’s murder. In July, President Trump vetoed a series of legislative measures aimed at blocking US weapons sales to Saudi Arabia.
• The interview comes just two weeks after the attacks on Saudi Arabia’s oil infrastructure – blamed by Washington and the UK on Iran – which disrupted the production of 5.7 million barrels of oil a day, more than half of the kingdom’s oil output and 5 per cent of global crude supplies, and raised fears of a wider regional conflict.
• Speaking at the UN General Assembly this week, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said US patience with Iran has its limits and warned that military options are still being considered following the attack.
• The US said yesterday this it is sending a Patriot missile battery, four ground-based radar systems, and 200 troops to Saudi Arabia to help deter Iran’s increasingly violent acts in the region. A THAAD missile defence system and two additional Patriot missile batteries are prepared to go if needed, the Pentagon said.

Looking ahead: The interview with the Crown Prince will likely reignite calls from the international community for a UN investigation. The Trump administration will also likely face more pressure to respond to the murder, especially after a senior US administration official told Reuters in June the Trump administration was pressing Riyadh for “tangible progress” towards holding to account those behind the killing.

• Bin Salman’s admission has also come at a difficult time for the Saudi Kingdom, when US-Saudi relations have cooled over a potential Trump rapprochement with Iran, the UAE reducing its involvement in Yemen and the September oil facility attacks.
• The Saudi government will likely try to refocus attention on Iran’s attack on its oil facilities and the likely response as a way to gather international support for the Kingdom and minimise any criticism or further reaction of the Khashoggi murder.