The fiancee of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was murdered at the Saudi Consulate General in Istanbul in 2018, said this Thursday (28) there was a “scandal” over the dinner between French President Emmanuel Macron and Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman, known by the acronym MBS. At that time, the American secret service called the Saudi leader the mastermind of the crime.
The fiancee of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was murdered at the Saudi Consulate General in Istanbul in 2018, said this Thursday (28) there was a “scandal” over the dinner between French President Emmanuel Macron and Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman, known by the acronym MBS. At that time, the American secret service called the Saudi leader the mastermind of the crime.
The journalist’s fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, said: “I was scandalized by Emmanuel Macron’s acceptance of my husband’s execution with all honor.” “The rise in energy prices due to the war in Ukraine does not justify the acquittal of the head of Saudi policy in the name of a so-called realpolitik against his deadly opponents, as in Jamal.” Additional.
The Washington Post chronicler was strangled and dismembered on October 2, 2018, at the Saudi Consulate in the Turkish capital, where he went to get the necessary documents for his marriage. The crown prince denied any involvement in the crime, although he took his “responsibility” as the country’s leader. “All international investigations point to Mohammed bin Salman being responsible for the murder,” Cengiz said.
The Saudi crown prince’s visit to Paris is the first in Europe since the journalist’s murder, despite protests from human rights defenders who considered the journalist’s assassination “inappropriate”. “MBS’ visit to France or Joe Biden’s visit to Saudi Arabia does not change the fact that he is the murderer,” said Agnès Callamard, the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions, who is investigating the murder of journalists. Callamard denounced the “double standards” regarding the Saudi prince, as “many” world leaders “expressed their condemnation of the assassination” and “committed not to integrate MBS into the international community”.
These organizations and his French lawyer announced that several NGOs, including Democracy Now for the Arab World (DAWN), founded by Khashoggi, filed complaints against bin Salman in Paris on Thursday, accusing him of complicity in torture and enforced disappearance. “The Saudi journalist has called for an end to the ‘brutal’ war in Yemen so that the ‘honour’ of the kingdom can be restored. He also denounced the new waves of arrests in Saudi Arabia after his coronation in 2017. The Prince’s involvement,” said an NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF) recalled in a statement.
Return to the international stage
The meeting between bin Salman and the French president marks the return of the Saudi leader to the international stage, who met with US President Joe Biden two weeks ago. French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said the Saudi prince’s visit “doesn’t cast doubt on France’s commitment to human rights”. According to Palácio do Eliseu, the issue should be addressed at the dinner of the two leaders, who should also discuss energy and nuclear.
Despite Saudi Arabia’s track record of human rights abuses, many Western powers see Riyadh as a crucial partner for energy, defense and its determined opposition to Iran. “It seems that MBS can count on Emmanuel Macron to restore his reputation on the international stage, despite the brutal death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the brutal suppression of all critics by the Saudi authorities, and the war crimes in Yemen,” said Bénédicte Jeannerod of the NGO. Human Rights Oversight.
Macron met with bin Salman in Saudi Arabia in December 2021, and recently received two Saudi allied leaders in Paris: Abdul Fatah al-Sissi of Egypt and Mohamed bin Zayed of the United Arab Emirates. In addition, the French president also visited three African countries, Guinea-Bissau, Cameroon and Benin, which are not seen as exemplary democracies.
Since the beginning of Russia’s attack on Ukraine, Western countries have been trying to boost production of Saudi Arabia, the main exporter of crude oil, to ease markets and limit inflation. But Riyadh is resisting pressure, citing commitments made to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+), jointly administered by Saudi Arabia and Russia.
source: Noticias
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