US 'closely engaged' with UAE over sentencing of Jamal Khashoggi's former lawyer

The United States is “closely engaged” with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) over the detention of an American citizen who is also a former lawyer for Saudi Arabian journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, said US State Department spokesperson Jake Sullivan on Monday (local time). UAE had sentenced the lawyer who represented Khashoggi who was killed at Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul in 2018, to three years in prison. As per reports, Asim Ghafoor was charged with money laundering and tax evasion and he will be deported, however, it still remains unclear when.

Following the media report about Ghafoor’s sentencing on Saturday, Sullivan said, “We have been actively and closely engaged on this case ever since we learnt of it shortly after his detention late last week. We raised his detention with senior levels of the Emirati government, we’ve requested additional information from our Emirati partners and we are watching this case closely”.

Earlier, Ghafoor was reported to be detained by UAE at the Dubai International Airport on money laundering charges. It is to mention here that the slain Washington Post journalist, Khashoggi was once represented by Ghafoor following the gruesome murder of 2018. Prior to the US State Department spokesperson’s remarks on Monday, US President Joe Biden had said that he raised Khashoggi’s murder during the meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

In a speech following hours of meetings with the Saudi Crown Prince, Biden had said, “I raised it at the top of the meeting, making it clear what I thought of it at the time and what I think of it now”.

Biden received backlash for fist-bumping Saudi Crown Prince

Considering several years of tensions between the US and UAE over the Khashoggi murder, Biden triggered an intensive backlash against him on Friday after he was pictured fist-bumping the Saudi Crown Prince. The picture spread like wildfire on social media as US intelligence has already concluded that the Saudi Crown Prince approved Khashoggi’s murder.

On 2 October 2018, Khashoggi, a Saudi dissident journalist, and columnist for The Washington Post was killed by agents of the Saudi government at the Saudi consulate in Turkey. US intelligence community has reiterated that they believe the Saudi Crown Prince ordered the killing of the Saudi insider-turned-critic who was living in exile in Virginia, at the time of death. However, Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler has rejected his involvement in the incident.

As Biden returned from his first Middle East trip as US president, he disputed the Saudi foreign minister's account that he did not hear POTUS blame the Saudi Crown prince for the killing of Khashoggi. When Biden was asked if Adel al-Jubeir was telling the truth in resounding the exchange between Biden and Crown Prince, the US President replied, “No”.

Earlier, the Saudi minister of state for foreign affairs said that Crown Prince or MbS had told the US President the kingdom had acted to prevent a repeat of mistakes like Khashoggi's murder, and that Washington also made mistakes. Jubeir told Fox News on Saturday that he “didn't hear that particular phrase" from Biden blaming the crown prince.

Image: AP