On Friday, the Biden administration formally declared a report accusing Mohammad bin Salman (Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia) of allowing the operation to kill or capture Jamal Khashoggi (a journalist).
The United States, for the very first time, has alleged the crown prince for Jamal Khashoggi’s assassination in a formal intelligence report.
The official report from the office of DNI (Director of National Intelligence) said that we base this assessment on Muhammad bin Salman’s control of decision-making in the country, the direct involvement of a key adviser and allies of the crown prince’s protective detail in operation and Muhammad bin Salman‘s support for using violent measures to silence dissidents overseas, including Jamal Khashoggi.
A group traveled to Istanbul intending to kill Khashoggi
According to the DNI document, the new information in this three-page report has carried the names of the group of fifteen people that are suspected in the killing of Khashoggi; the group moved to Istanbul, Turkey, to act on the operation.
The 3-page report further described that since 2017, Muhammad bin Salman has had total control of the country’s intelligence and security agencies, turning it very unlikely that Saudi Arabia officials would have executed an operation of this nature without his authorization.
Source: Web
Near the time of Jamal Khashoggi’s killing, the crown prince possibly created an environment in which allies were scared that failure to accomplish given tasks might result in him arresting or firing them. Moreover, it also suggests that aides were unlikely to speak against Muhammad bin Salman’s orders without his consent.
Besides this, the document explained that Muhammad bin Salman viewed Jamal Khashoggi as a threat to his country and dominantly supported using violent measures if required to silence him. The report continued that Saudi Arabia officials had already planned an unnamed operation against Jamal Khashoggi we don’t have any idea how far in advance the Saudi government decided to kill him.
Several resources reported to Fox News that the document went through many clearance rounds across the Joe Biden administration before its release.
Additional visa restrictions on overseas officials
On Friday, a source familiar to the matter also described to a media agency, Fox News, that the State Department will declare new visa limitations on those working on behalf of the overseas government, who thought to have been directly linked to serious, extraterritorial counter dissident maneuvers.
