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Agnes Callamard: Washington's Failure to Punish bin Salman is "Extremely Dangerous"

2021-03-03 - 8:34 am

Bahrain Mirror: The United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, Agnes Callamard, affirmed that the failure of the United States to take action against the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, in connection with the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, is "extremely dangerous."

This came in statements at a press conference in which Callamard participated in Geneva, according to Western media, including the Financial Times.

Callamard said it was "extremely dangerous for Washington to announce that the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia agreed to kill Khashoggi without taking action against him."

"It is extremely problematic, in my view, if not dangerous, to acknowledge someone's culpability and then to tell that someone ‘but we won't do anything, please proceed as if have we have said nothing'," she said.

"That to me is an extremely dangerous move on the part of the USA," reiterating her calls to impose sanctions against Mohammed bin Salman.

The US Intelligence issued on Friday a report in which it said that bin Salman approved "to capture or kill" Khashoggi since he considered him a "threat to the kingdom" and also approved the use of violent measures if necessary to silence him.

The US administration subsequently announced new sanctions against Saudi officials, including Ahmed Asiri, the former Deputy Head of Saudi Arabia's General Intelligence Presidency, and Rapid Intervention Force, execluding Bin Salman.

The Saudi Foreign Ministry issued a statement rejecting the report, describing it as "negative, false and unacceptable".

Khashoggi were killed on October 2, 2018 inside Al-Riyadh Consulate in Istanbul.

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