A court in Paris has authorized an investigation into the Saudi crown prince, who is accused of involvement in the murder of a journalist.
A Paris investigating judge will consider a complaint against Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. He is accused of involvement in the murder of Saudi opposition journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was killed in 2018 in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. This is reported by France 24 and Figaro, citing AFP.
The complaint against the Saudi crown prince was filed in 2022 by several organizations, including Trial International, which claims to fight “impunity for international crimes,” as well as Reporters Without Borders.
For several years, the prosecutor’s office objected to the opening of an investigation in France. They believed that organizations did not have the right to initiate such a case. However, the appeals court supported Trial International and RSF. Now the investigation will be handled by an investigating judge from the Crimes Against Humanity Investigation Department.
“The crime of which Jamal Khashoggi became a victim is a heinous crime, decided and planned at the highest level of the Saudi state, which ordered the execution of a journalist who was an independent dissident voice,” — said Emmanuel Daoud, a lawyer for Reporters Without Borders.
Jamal Khashoggi was a Saudi journalist and columnist for the American newspaper Washington Post. He became famous for his critical articles about the Saudi Arabian government.
In 2017, Khashoggi left the country to avoid persecution for his views and moved to the United States. For a year, he wrote for the Washington Post, criticizing Saudi Arabia’s policies towards Qatar, Canada, and Yemen, and also condemning the persecution of dissidents by the country’s authorities.
The journalist came to the Saudi consulate to obtain documents to marry a girl who lived in Turkey.
On October 2, 2018, Khashoggi disappeared after a visit to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. On October 19, Saudi Arabia admitted for the first time that the journalist was allegedly killed accidentally in the consulate. US President Donald Trump also believed in the “accidental” murder.
At the same time, on October 26, Saudi Arabia already stated that the murder was intentional. The US Senate approved a resolution in which it blamed Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the murder of Khashoggi. Saudi Arabia rejected these accusations.
