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Updated March 18th, 2021 at 07:48 IST

Biden defends decision to waive punishment for Saudi crown prince in killing of Khashoggi

Defending the decision, US President Joe Biden said that acting against the Saudi royal would have been diplomatically unprecedented for the country.

Reported by: Bhavya Sukheja
Joe Biden
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US President Joe Biden on March 17 defended his decision to waive any punishment for Saudi Arabia’s crown prince in the killing of Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi. In an ABC News interview, Biden said that acting against the Saudi royal would have been diplomatically unprecedented for the United States. In the interview, he discussed his administration’s decision to exempt Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for any penalties for the October 2, 2018, killing if Saudi journalist Khashoggi. 

Biden said, “We held accountable all the people in that organisation — but not the crown prince, because we have never that I''m aware of, when we have an alliance with a country, gone to the acting head of state and punished that person and ostracized him”. 

Biden approved releasing the report 

Last month, the US intelligence had released a report that concluded that the crown prince authorised the team of Saudi security and intelligence officials that killed Khashoggi. The US said that they based the assessment on the Crown Prince’s control of decisionmaking in the Kingdom, the direct involvement of a key adviser and members of Muhammad bin Salman’s protective detail in the operation. The report further added that the Crown Prince’s “support” for using violent measures to silence dissidents abroad is also the reason to believe that he had approved the operation.

Following the report, the US also imposed visa restrictions and penalties on the Saudi agents who killed the dismembered Khashoggi inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. However, the US would not say if Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is one of the 76 officials subjected to the visa restrictions under the new “Khashoggi ban”. But on Wednesday Biden noted that he had approved releasing the intelligence report and also added that he had “made it clear” to Saudi Arabia’s king that “things were going to change”. 

(With inputs from AP)

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Published March 18th, 2021 at 07:48 IST

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