Category Archives: Jamal Khashoggi

Saudi Arabia releases US retiree jailed over critical tweets

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Saad Almadi’s family thanks Trump and state department as announcement comes after meeting with crown prince

Saudi Arabia has agreed to allow US citizen Saad Almadi to return home to Florida, five months ahead of the scheduled lifting of travel restrictions and a day after Saudi crown prince and prime minister Mohammed bin Salman met Donald Trump at the White House.

Almadi, 75, was sentenced to 19 years of incarceration in the kingdom in 2021 after he wrote 14 tweets critical of the Riyadh government. Two years later, the charges were reduced to so-called “cyber crimes” and he was sentenced to a 30-year ban on leaving Saudi Arabia.

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Trump shrugs off Khashoggi murder during Saudi prince’s White House visit

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US president also claims Mohammed bin Salman ‘knew nothing’ about murder of journalist

Donald Trump has shrugged off the Saudi regime’s 2018 murder of the Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, saying the journalist was “extremely controversial” and unpopular, dismissing the killing by observing “things happen”.

The US president made the remarks at the White House on Tuesday while welcoming Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the first time since Khashoggi’s murder and dismemberment in Istanbul by Saudi state operatives.

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Saudi entourage for US visit may include official implicated in Twitter spy plot

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Senior aide to Mohammed bin Salman allegedly led campaign to identify users who were posting critically about Saudi regime

A senior official in Mohammed bin Salman’s entourage, who is expected to travel with the crown prince on his first trip back to the US in seven years, has previously been accused by US prosecutors of playing a central role in a conspiracy to infiltrate Twitter and identify users who were posting critically about the Saudi regime.

Bader al-Asaker, who has headed Prince Mohammed’s private office since before he became crown prince, has never been formally charged by the US government for his role in the 2014-15 scheme, but was accused in court by a US government lawyer as having led the campaign to find a “mole” who would be able to extract sensitive information from the social media company, which is now known as X.

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Trump says US will sell F-35 stealth jets to Saudis as Prince Mohammed visits

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Kingdom’s de facto ruler to arrive on first White House trip since killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018

Donald Trump is to welcome Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Mohammed bin Salman to Washington on Tuesday, in a red-carpet visit expected to result in the sale of highly advanced US F-35 fighter jets to the Gulf monarchy.

The crown prince’s arrival in Washington will be his first White House visit since the 2018 killing of the Washington Post journalist and critic of the kingdom Jamal Khashoggi. The CIA later determined Khashoggi’s murder was approved by the crown prince, leading to global condemnation.

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‘It’s created an internal shitstorm’: turmoil at UK law firm accused of ‘whitewashing’ Saudi World Cup report

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Sources say key people at Clifford Chance were not consulted, as it emerges another company refused job due to reputational concerns

When the Saudi crown prince locked nearly 400 of his country’s most powerful people in a luxury hotel in 2017 and stripped them of their fortunes, a UK law firm allegedly played a significant role.

On the orders of Mohammed bin Salman, Clifford Chance - a “magic circle” legal giant with headquarters in London – was reported to have facilitated the forced transfer of assets from a Saudi TV station to the government.

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X admits ‘error’ led to reinstatement of key suspect in Jamal Khashoggi murder

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Saud al-Qahtani was first suspended before Elon Musk took over what was then Twitter, and was suspended again today after Guardian report

A key Saudi suspect in the murder of US-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 had his account reinstated on X, the social media company controlled by Elon Musk, after it was permanently suspended under the company’s previous owner.

Saud al-Qahtani, a onetime key adviser to Mohammed bin Salman, had “direct involvement” in the murder of Khashoggi, according to a US intelligence assessment released by the Biden administration in 2021.

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‘A slap in the face to victims of abuse’: UN urged to reject Saudi Arabia’s bid to join Human Rights Council

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Riyadh accused of killing hundreds of Ethiopian migrants, jailing women’s rights advocates and murdering critics

Saudi Arabia is on the brink of being elected on to the United Nation’s Human Rights Council, warn campaigners, in a move they say would undermine its ability to demand justice for rights violations and would feel like a “slap in the face” to the many victims of the Saudi regime.

While the Saudi Arabian government has attempted to present itself as a reformed country that has made progress on gender equality and human rights, its record on both has been fiercely criticised by activists.

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UK ‘turning a blind eye’ to threats to kill Saudi activists living in exile

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Saudis living in the UK claim Riyadh is targeting them for speaking out on human rights and jailing of female activists

Saudi exiles living in the UK have spoken of threats to their lives and harassment over their support for improvements in human rights in their home country.

Saudi Arabia has been attempting to present itself as a reformed state since the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi by a Saudi hit squad at its consulate in Istanbul in 2018.

It has spent billions on sporting deals and promoting tourism in the country and was recently named host of a UN commission on women’s rights, despite what Amnesty International called its “abysmal” record on women’s rights.

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

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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.

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UK invites Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman to visit

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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.

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

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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).

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

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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”.

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US judge dismisses case against Saudi crown prince over Khashoggi killing

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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.

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

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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.

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