On journalist Khashoggi killing, Saudi prince says US additionally made errors

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman advised President Joe Biden that Saudi Arabia had acted to stop a repeat of errors just like the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and that the United States had additionally made errors, together with in Iraq, a Saudi minister stated.

Biden stated on Friday he advised Prince Mohammed he held him chargeable for the 2018 homicide of Washington Post journalist Khashoggi on the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, shortly after exchanging a fist bump with the dominion’s de facto ruler.

“The President raised the issue… And the crown prince responded that this was a painful episode for Saudi Arabia and that it was a terrible mistake,” the dominion’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Adel al-Jubeir, stated.

Those who have been accused have been dropped at trial and punished with jail phrases, he stated.

US intelligence companies imagine the crown prince ordered Khashoggi’s killing, which he denies.

Jubeir, speaking to Reuters about Friday’s dialog between the 2 leaders, stated the crown prince had made the case that making an attempt to impose values by pressure on different nations might backfire.

“It has not worked when the US tried to impose values on Afghanistan and Iraq. In fact, it backfired. It does not work when people try to impose values by force on other countries,” Jubeir quoted the prince, generally known as MbS, as telling Biden.

“Countries have different values and those values should be respected,” MbS advised Biden.

The alternate highlighted the tensions which have weighed on the connection between Washington and Riyadh, its closest Arab ally, over a number of points, together with Khashoggi, excessive oil costs, and the Yemen warfare.

Biden, who landed in Saudi Arabia on Friday on his first Middle East journey as president, held a summit on Saturday with six Gulf states and Egypt, Jordan, and Iraq whereas downplaying his assembly with Prince Mohammed. That encounter has drawn criticism at house over human rights abuses.

Biden had promised to make Saudi Arabia a “pariah” on the worldwide stage over the 2018 homicide of Khashoggi, however in the end determined US pursuits dictated bettering relations with the world’s prime oil exporter and Arab powerhouse.

After the summit, the leaders gathered for a gaggle image, at which Biden stored his distance from Prince Mohammed.

“His Royal Highness mentioned to the President that mistakes like this happen in other countries, and we saw a mistake like this being committed by the United States in Abu Ghraib (prison in Iraq),” Jubeir stated.

Prince Mohammed additionally raised the killing of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh throughout an Israeli raid within the West Bank.

Abu Akleh, who labored for the Al Jazeera community, was shot within the head on May 11 whereas reporting on an Israeli raid within the occupied West Bank metropolis of Jenin.

Palestinians imagine she was killed intentionally by Israeli troops. Israel denies its troopers shot her on function and says she could have been killed both by errant military hearth or a shot fired by a Palestinian gunman.

Jubeir rejected the accusation that Saudi Arabia has a whole bunch of political prisoners.

“That’s absolutely not correct. We have prisoners in Saudi Arabia who have committed crimes and who were put on trial by our courts and were found guilty,” he stated.

“The notion that they would be described as political prisoners is ridiculous,” he added.

Washington has softened its stance on Saudi Arabia since Russia invaded Ukraine earlier this yr, triggering one of many world’s worst power provide crises.

READ | ‘Blood in your palms’: Biden’s fist bump with Saudi prince angers murdered US journo’s fiancée

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