Jamal Khashoggi murder: US likely to release intelligence report, Biden to call Saudi King

US President Joe Biden is expected to call Saudi Arabia’s King Salman while his administration prepares to declassify the report on the gruesome murder of the Washington Post columnist, Jamal Khashoggi.  As reported by the Guardian, the declassified intelligence assessment by the United States will reportedly name the Saudi royal’s son and heir as complicit in the Khashoggi murder. The White House reportedly confirmed on February 24 that Biden’s call to the 85-year-old Saudi King would take place “soon” while adding that the declassified report on columnist’s murder was being readied for release.

The declassification of the report comes as the White House is facing several calls by the human rights activists and the Saudi dissidents to reportedly “strike a blow” against Saudi human rights violation including sanctions. Just months after slain journalist’s fiancee, Hatice Cengiz urged Biden to release CIA’s classified report on his killing as soon as he enters the White House, Avril Haines, who has been nominated to serve as the director of national intelligence at the time had said ahead of Biden’s inauguration.

Haines said in a confirmation hearing on January 19 that if confirmed as the new DNI, she would have the opportunity to “immediately” turn the page on the “excessive secrecy” and “lawlessness” of the Trump administration. She said that the US would be submitting an unclassified report on “who was responsible” for Khashoggi’s killing inside the Saudi consulate in Turkey in October 2018, as required under a February 2020 law that the outgoing Trump administration in effect had blocked.

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Jamal Khashoggi’s murder

However, Biden administration’s decision implies that the US is likely to officially assign blame for Khashoggi’s brutal murder to Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The 59-year-old was suffocated and dismembered inside the kingdom’s Istanbul consulate on October 2, 2018, after he went inside to get the required documents for his marriage to Turkish fiancee Hatice Cengiz.  This gruesome murder triggered a worldwide rage and stained the reputation of the oil-rich kingdom as well as its Crown Prince. 

Meanwhile, calling on the American authorities to release the classified documents, his fiancee asserted that it would “greatly assist in uncovering the truth" about people responsible for his murder. Although official investigation reports have not been released as yet, media reports have alleged the role of Saudi Prince Mohammad Bin Salman in his killing. As per the Guardian, Khalid Aljabri, a Saudi living in exile in Canada and the son of a former senior official and aide to the ex-crown prince who is now in jail, said “The release of the report is a long-awaited step that must be accompanied by accountability to ensure that this barbaric crime doesn’t happen again.” 

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