Category Archives: Jamal Khashoggi

Alicia Keys criticised for Women’s Day event in ‘misogynist’ Saudi Arabia

Posted on by

The US singer has been called out by human rights activists for hosting a summit and performing on stage in the repressive state

Performer Alicia Keys projects a powerful position on women’s rights, hosting a regular Women to Women summit and posting inspirationally on Instagram on Friday for International Women’s Day. But the singer-songwriter’s message is undermined for some by the revelation that she is hosting the third edition of her summit this weekend in Saudi Arabia.

The American performer and her guests, including Pharrell Williams, best known for his worldwide hit Happy, are to discuss “how women are pushing the culture forward in Saudi Arabia and around the world”, she has announced, before the get-together in the coastal city of Jeddah.

Continue reading...

Biden accused of betrayal of Khashoggi over push to deepen Saudi ties

Posted on by

Activists and Democrats condemn rapprochement – aimed at heading off China – with ‘autocratic, sociopathic government’

Joe Biden is facing accusations of betraying a pre-election promise to re-evaluate ties with Saudi Arabia over the murder of Jamal Khashoggi in favour of pursuing a rapprochement with the kingdom aimed at repelling a challenge from China to US primacy in the Middle East.

The charge, from human rights campaigners and some Democrats, follows the fifth anniversary of Khashoggi’s death at the hands of Saudi regime agents and comes amid mounting criticism of a proposed new defence treaty between Washington and Riyadh that could result in Saudi Arabia granting official recognition to Israel.

Continue reading...

Tony Blair Institute continued taking money from Saudi Arabia after Khashoggi murder

Posted on by

Blair defends continuing partnership with kingdom despite ‘anxieties’ after 2018 assassination of journalist

Tony Blair’s institute has continued to advise and receive money from the government of Saudi Arabia since the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, it has emerged.

The Sunday Times reported the former prime minister’s organisation is involved in a multimillion-pound partnership helping with a modernisation drive in the country led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Continue reading...

Revealed: Saudi Arabia’s $6bn spend on ‘sportswashing’

Posted on by

Exclusive: Billions deployed since early 2021 in a move critics say is an attempt to distract from human rights record

Saudi Arabia has spent at least $6.3bn (£4.9bn) in sports deals since early 2021, more than quadruple the previous amount spent over a six-year period, in what critics have labelled an effort to distract from its human rights record.

Saudi Arabia has deployed billions from its Public Investment Fund over the last two-and-a-half years according to analysis by the Guardian, spending on sports at a scale that has completely changed professional golf and transformed the international transfer market for football.

Continue reading...

UK invites Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman to visit

Posted on by

Saudi heir’s official visit would be first since he was accused of being behind killing of Jamal Khashoggi

The Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, has been invited to the UK on an official visit in late autumn, the first such visit by the heir to the Saudi throne since he was accused of masterminding the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post columnist and dissident.

Numerous UK ministers have been to Saudi Arabia in the interim, and senior Saudi ministers have also come to the UK, including the foreign minister, Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud.

Continue reading...

Saudi leader trying to avoid ‘pariah’ status with LIV-PGA merger, says rights group

Posted on by

Mohammed bin Salman said to look to repair his reputation after 2018 murder of Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul

The proposed merger between the Saudi-backed LIV Tour and the American PGA Tour marks the latest maneuver by Riyadh in its campaign to repair its reputation and head off the sort of blacklisting that occurred after the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a prominent advocate for democracy in the Middle East told the Guardian.

“This is a merger in name only. This is really about the Saudi government throwing a premium at PGA Tour that they obviously found too overwhelmingly tempting to resist,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of Democracy for the Arab World Now (Dawn).

Continue reading...

US Senate asks governor of Saudi wealth fund to testify over LIV-PGA merger

Posted on by

Invitation raises possibility Yasir al-Rumayyan could be questioned under oath about execution of Jamal Khashoggi

The powerful governor of Saudi Arabia’s state-backed investment fund has been invited to testify before a Senate committee in the wake of a proposed merger between the Saudi-backed LIV Tour and the PGA, raising the possibility the executive could be questioned under oath about issues ranging from the future of golf to the execution of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Yasir al-Rumayyan, governor of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, was invited to testify on 11 July by the Senate permanent subcommittee on investigations, whose chairman, the Democratic senator Dick Blumenthal, is one of the toughest critics of Saudi Arabia on Capitol Hill.

This article was amended on 21 June 2023 to clarify that Yasir al-Rumayyan is the governor of Saudi Arabia’s state-backed investment fund, rather than the chairman.

Continue reading...

Threatened Saudi dissident told to live like Edward Snowden by Met police

Posted on by

Col Rabih Alenezi received advice after reporting death threats, of which he says he receives 50 a week

A Saudi Arabian dissident living in London was told to “emulate” the life of the US whistleblower Edward Snowden by a Metropolitan police officer, amid death threats he received after fleeing his country.

Col Rabih Alenezi, 44, had been a senior official in Saudi Arabia’s security service for two decades, but sought asylum in the UK after he claimed to have been ordered to carry out human rights violations. His life was threatened for criticising the regime of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Continue reading...

Washington Post condemns Pompeo for ‘vile’ Khashoggi ‘falsehoods’

Posted on by

Fred Ryan says former secretary of state ‘outrageously misrepresents’ Post journalist murdered by Saudi Arabian regime

The publisher of the Washington Post, Fred Ryan, has blasted the former secretary of state Mike Pompeo for “outrageously misrepresenting” and “spreading vile falsehoods” about Jamal Khashoggi, the Post columnist murdered by the Saudi Arabian regime in 2018.

“It is shameful that Pompeo would spread vile falsehoods to dishonor a courageous man’s life and service and his commitment to principles Americans hold dear as a ploy to sell books,” Ryan said.

Continue reading...

Mike Pompeo dismisses ‘faux outrage’ over murder of Jamal Khashoggi

Posted on by

Former Trump secretary of state claims US media depicted Washington Post columnist as ‘a Saudi Arabian Bob Woodward’

The former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo has dismissed the indignation prompted by the murder of Jamal Khashoggi as “faux outrage” – and cast doubt on whether the Washington Post columnist was a genuine journalist at all.

In his new book, Pompeo says that Khashoggi – who was killed by Saudi agents in Istanbul in 2018 – was not “a Saudi Arabian Bob Woodward martyred for bravely criticising the Saudi royal family”.

Continue reading...

US judge dismisses case against Saudi crown prince over Khashoggi killing

Posted on by

Judge says Mohammed bin Salman entitled to sovereign immunity despite ‘credible allegations’ of involvement in journalist’s murder

A US judge has dismissed a lawsuit against Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed bin Salman that claimed he conspired to kill journalist Jamal Khashoggi, saying the crown prince was entitled to sovereign immunity despite “credible allegations” that he was involved in the murder.

Judge John Bates, a US district court judge with a long history of presiding over cases involving national security, acknowledged “uneasiness” in making the decision, but said that his hands were in effect tied by the Biden administration’s recent recommendation that Prince Mohammed be given immunity.

Continue reading...

Showdown as Saudi crown prince aims to dodge lawsuit over Khashoggi murder

Posted on by

Decision on whether US lawsuit can proceed hinges on whether heir to Saudi throne has sovereign immunity

Courtroom 30 in Washington’s district court might seem an unlikely venue for a diplomatic showdown between Saudi Arabia and the US.

But for Hatice Cengiz it represents the last hope for justice following the brutal murder of her fiancee, the Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

Continue reading...

Mohammed bin Salman named prime minister ahead of Khashoggi lawsuit

Posted on by

New role likely to grant prince sovereign immunity in case concerning journalist murdered in Saudi Arabian embassy

Mohammed bin Salman has been named prime minister of Saudi Arabia in a move that experts said would probably shield the crown prince from a potentially damaging lawsuit in the US in connection to his alleged role in the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Saudi Arabia announced on Tuesday that King Salman was making an exception to Saudi law and naming his son as prime minister, formally ceding the dual title of king and prime minister he had personally held until now.

Continue reading...

Saudi foreign minister defends role in securing Ukraine prisoner swaps

Posted on by

Prince Faisal bin Farhan al Saud decries as ‘cynical’ accusations his country was trying to improve its image after Khashoggi killing

It would be cynical to see Saudi Arabia’s efforts to secure the release of international prisoners held by Russian proxies in Ukraine as an attempt to improve the country’s image after the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, its foreign minister has said.

Prince Faisal bin Farhan al Saud said on Friday that Riyadh had first approached the UK government in April, shortly after Aiden Aslin, a British citizen, and others were captured at Mariupol, and had acted for compassionate reasons, hoping to negotiate their release.

This story was amended on Friday 23 September 2022 to correct the name of the Saudi foreign minister.

Continue reading...

‘Stain on Queen’s memory’: Saudi crown prince’s planned visit condemned

Posted on by

Hatice Cengiz, fiancee of murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and other campaigners condemn plan

Mohammed bin Salman’s plan to touch down in London on Sunday to pay his respects to the Queen has been condemned by Hatice Cengiz and other human rights defenders as a “stain” on the monarch’s memory and an attempt by the Saudi crown prince to use mourning to “seek legitimacy and normalisation”.

Cengiz, who was engaged to Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi journalist who was killed and dismembered by Saudi agents in the Istanbul consulate in 2018, said she wished that Prince Mohammed would be arrested for murder when he lands in London, but said she feared that UK authorities would turn a blind eye to serious and credible allegations against the future king.

Continue reading...

Mohammed bin Salman ‘will travel to London to deliver condolences’

Posted on by

Crown prince will reportedly head Saudi delegation but attendance at Queen’s funeral unconfirmed

Mohammed bin Salman will deliver his country’s condolences to the royal family after the death of the Queen, a source has told the Guardian, but there has been no confirmation about whether he will attend the funeral service at Westminster Abbey.

It will be the Saudi crown prince’s first visit to the UK since the murder of the Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in October 2018 and the subsequent British imposition of sanctions. These included travel bans on a group of courtiers close to the crown prince due to their alleged involvement in the killing inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

Continue reading...

Ex-Khashoggi lawyer Asim Ghafoor freed in UAE after money laundering conviction

Posted on by

US citizen released after paying fine as United Arab Emirates court confiscates $4.9m it says illegally moved through country

The US citizen and civil rights attorney Asim Ghafoor, who had represented Jamal Khashoggi before the Saudi journalist was murdered, has been freed from custody in the UAE where he was convicted on money laundering charges.

Ghafoor was headed home to the US, said his lawyer, Faisal Gill, having been freed after paying a fine and with help from the US embassy in the UAE.

Continue reading...

Rights groups hit out at Macron decision to host Mohammed bin Salman

Posted on by

Saudi crown prince accused of complicity in murder of Jamal Khashoggi is welcomed in Paris

Human rights campaigners have hit out at Emmanuel Macron’s decision to host Mohammed bin Salman for talks in Paris during the Saudi crown prince’s first visit to Europe since the murder nearly four years ago of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

On Thursday evening, Macron welcomed Prince Mohammed to talks at the Elysée Palace with a long handshake before the pair were due to dine together.

Continue reading...

Greece rolls out red carpet for crown prince, as Khashoggi killing falls off agenda

Posted on by

With Europe grappling with an energy crisis, Mohammed bin Salman finds he is once again welcome

Smiles, handshakes, backslaps and the Acropolis all to himself. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has landed in Europe – his first trip west since the brutal killing of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi – and on a continent jittering with energy worries, the Saudi royal has received red-carpet treatment.

Human rights concerns aside, the de facto leader of the world’s greatest oil producer has luxuriated in a welcome that only recently may have seemed impossible.

Continue reading...

White House seeks to delay decision on Prince Mohammed immunity over Khashoggi murder

Posted on by

Request comes after Biden returns from Saudi trip in which he claims to have raised journalist’s murder with crown prince

The Biden administration asked a US judge for a 60-day extension before it formally weighed in on whether Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi crown prince, ought to be granted sovereign immunity in a case involving the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

The Department of Justice said in a filing before a US district court that it had initiated a “decision-making process” about whether it would file a statement of interest in the case but that it would not be able to comply with the court’s requested deadline of 1 August.

Continue reading...