During his visit, US President Biden confronted the Saudi Crown Prince with his responsibility in the Khashoggi murder case. Riyadh is not very enthusiastic and warns that "imposing values" would be counterproductive. Instead, she accuses the US of having made serious mistakes itself.
In the dispute over the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the government of Saudi Arabia has warned the United States against interference. "Forcing values is counterproductive," Saudi Arabia-funded news channel Al-Arabiya quoted a government official as saying. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) assured US President Joe Biden at their meeting on Friday evening that the kingdom "took the necessary steps in the Khashoggi incident".
At the same time, the United States had made mistakes, including in Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, the broadcaster continued to quote the government representative. The notorious prison became internationally known in connection with a US torture scandal in 2004. Photos of the mistreatment of some inmates went around the world, and seven US soldiers were later charged and convicted.
The Saudi official, who was not named, also mentioned the killing of journalist Shirin Abu Akle. The reporter for the Al-Jazeera TV channel, well-known in the Arab world, was killed in the West Bank in May. The US State Department later determined that she was probably killed by Israeli military gunfire, but was not targeted. Al-Jazeera had accused Israel of targeted, cold-blooded murder.
The assassination of Khashoggi, for which US intelligence services see the crown prince as directly responsible, was a frequent topic before and during Biden's trip to Israel and Saudi Arabia. On Friday evening, he said he had addressed the murder "crystal clear" when he met the crown prince - but he had denied any responsibility. "He basically said he wasn't personally responsible. I implied that I think he is," Biden said.
The journalist Khashoggi, who lives in the USA, was brutally killed by a hit squad in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018. US intelligence agencies see the crown prince as directly responsible. He denied ordering the killing.
