Noting that he was not the Kingdom's head, she added: “MBS [as the crown prince is known] is not the ruler of Saudi Arabia and the US should not recognize him as head of state. Doing so would grant him an authority and legitimacy he certainly does not deserve and hopefully will never receive.”
The Kingdom's critic murdered
At the time of his death, Khashoggi, a former Saudi insider who had fled the kingdom and was living in Virginia, was a critic of the young crown prince and was an active dissident in the face of MBS.
After years of delay by Donald Trump, who was president when Khashoggi was killed, the Biden administration decided to release an unclassified US intelligence report in 2021, shortly after Biden took office, concluding that MBS was likely to have ordered Khashoggi's murder.
The Saudi foreign ministry declared at the time of the study's release that the kingdom's leadership "categorically rejects what is mentioned in the report submitted to Congress."
While Saudi Arabia claimed to have held a trial against the hit squad responsible for the heinous murder, the proceedings were widely denounced as a hoax, and several of the team's most senior members have been spotted in a state security compound in Riyadh.
Other potential channels of justice have been obstructed due to political considerations. In March, a Turkish prosecutor concluded a long-running absentia trial against Khashoggi's killers, in a move regarded as part of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's efforts to restore relations with the Saudi Crown Prince.
MBS has accepted responsibility for the assassination on behalf of the Saudi government, but he has denied any personal involvement in its planning.
Part 2 - End