Shades of Jamal Khashoggi. A critic of the Saudi regime faces a threat from Saudi Arabia according to The Guardian, which says he was warned by the CIA official in Norway. According to U.S. doctrine, U.S. intelligence officials have a “duty to warn” potential targets if they learn of threats to specific individuals. While investigators...
Category: Saudi Arabia
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How the U.S. Could Prosecute Jamal Khashoggi’s Killers
Lee Bollinger, former president of Columbia University, echoes a suggestion I made last year: U.S. law enforcement could prosecute the killers of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. I wrote here that the use of U.S. communication facilities in furtherance of the crime would give U.S. prosecutors jurisdiction. Writing in The Washington Post Bollinger agrees: The case...
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Power Play: NSA Leaks Implicate MBS in Khashoggi Assassination
The New York Times reports that a wide variety of sources are sharing information about top secret National Security Agency intercepts of Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman. The story is less interesting for what it tells us about MBS’s complicity in the assassination of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi last October. MBS’s role is well-established. What this...
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Bellingcat Aims to Document Yemen Airstrikes
To end secret wars, you have to start with ending secrecy. A shroud of official secrecy has long enabled the Saudi coalition’s criminal war in Yemen, which has killed thousands of civilians and deliberately starved millions. It has enabled the coalition to avoid compensating the U.S. government for $331 million in refueling costs. The gratis...
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Saudi Official Witnessed Torture of Activist, Sister Says
A top Saudi official, implicated in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, presided over the torture of Loujain al-Houthal, a Saudi human rights activist, according to Houthal’s sister. From Alia al-Houthal’s piece in The New York Times Saud al-Qahtani, a top royal adviser, was present several times when Loujain was tortured, she said. Sometimes Mr....