Criticism of meeting with Macron: UN expert calls Saudi prince "manslayer"

The Saudi Crown Prince bin Salman describes the murder of journalist Khashoggi, who was critical of the government, as a "tragedy" that has since been resolved.

Criticism of meeting with Macron: UN expert calls Saudi prince "manslayer"

The Saudi Crown Prince bin Salman describes the murder of journalist Khashoggi, who was critical of the government, as a "tragedy" that has since been resolved. The United Nations sees it differently. You sharply criticize the reception of bin Salman by French President Macron in Paris.

Almost four years after the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is received in France for the first time. President Emmanuel Macron wanted to meet him at 8:30 p.m. for a working lunch at the Elysée Palace. Human rights groups are protesting the meeting, which further rehabilitates bin Salman on the international stage. According to US intelligence, bin Salman approved the 2018 murder of government critic Khashoggi at the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul.

"Mohammed Bin Salman's visit to France (...) doesn't change the fact that he's a manslayer," said Agnès Callamard, the UN special rapporteur on the murder case. "Will the dismembered corpse of Khashoggi be on the agenda at the meeting between Emmanuel Macron and MBS? The climate chaos? Human rights? (...) No, it will be about oil and weapons," wrote former Green presidential candidate Yannick Jadot on Twitter.

French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire welcomed the Crown Prince on Wednesday evening when he arrived in Paris. Bin Salman traveled from Greece. Bin Salman owns a Palace of Versailles-style residence near Paris, which he bought in 2015 for €275 million. It was considered the most expensive property in the world at the time. It was built, of all people, by a cousin of Khashoggi, who was later murdered.

US President Joe Biden recently visited Jeddah as part of his Middle East tour and met bin Salman there. During the election campaign, he declared that he wanted to treat Saudi Arabia like a pariah state. Macron, for his part, traveled to Saudi Arabia in December. The increased interest in Saudi Arabia is also a consequence of the Ukraine war and the associated explosion in energy prices. The West has so far tried in vain to persuade Saudi Arabia to increase oil production so that the price of oil falls and inflation is curbed.

Bin Salman sees the Khashoggi affair as a "tragedy" that is now over. According to Riyadh, those responsible have been identified and convicted. Two years ago, a court in Saudi Arabia sentenced eight men to between seven and 20 years in prison for the murder. The Crown Prince rejects any alleged joint responsibility.

The 59-year-old government critic Khashoggi had wanted to pick up papers for his upcoming wedding at the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018. According to official information from Turkey and the USA, a 15-man commando from Saudi Arabia was waiting there, murdered him, dismembered his body and made the remains disappear.