Saudi Arabia’s crown prince has said he bears responsibility for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi last year “because it happened under my watch”, according to a new documentary to be broadcast next week.
The comments by Mohammed bin Salman are his first to emerge about the Washington Post columnist’s death at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2. President Trump suggested the killing was carried out by rogue actors who had exceeded their authority. However, the CIA concluded that it must have been ordered by the crown prince.
A UN report has called for Prince Mohammed and others to be investigated after finding “credible evidence” he and other senior officials were liable for the killing. The crown prince has denied ordering the assassination.
“It happened under my watch. I get all the responsibility, because it happened under my watch,” he told PBS correspondent Martin Smith, according to a preview of The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, set to be shown on Tuesday.
After initially denying any involvement, the Saudi government blamed the murder on rogue operatives. The public prosecutor said the then-deputy intelligence chief ordered the repatriation of Mr Khashoggi, 59.
But he claimed the lead negotiator allegedly ordered him killed after discussions for his return from the US to his Saudi homeland failed. Saud al-Qahtani, a former top royal adviser who reportedly gave orders over Skype to the killers, briefed a hit team on Mr Khashoggi’s activities before the operation, the prosecutor said.
Asked how the killing could happen without him knowing about it, Prince Mohammed is quoted by Smith as saying: “We have 20 million people. We have three million government employees.”
Asked if the killers could have taken private government jets, the crown prince said: “I have officials, ministers to follow things, and they’re responsible. They have the authority to do that.”
In the preview of the documentary, Smith describes the apparently off-camera exchange, at an electric car race outside Riyadh in December. Eleven Saudis have been put on trial in secretive proceedings.
