Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman on Wednesday called the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Turkey a “heinous crime that cannot be justified,” according to a report.
“The crime was really painful to all Saudis, and I believe it is painful to every human in the world,” Prince Mohammad said in his first public comments about Khashoggi’s death, the Associated Press reported. “It is a heinous crime that cannot be justified.”
He spoke by phone with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan before arriving at the Future Investment Initiative summit in the Saudi capital, an event that was shunned by a number of Western companies and top executives as international outrage grew after Khashoggi vanished on Oct. 2.
In his remarks, the prince said the kingdom will work with Turkey “to present the perpetrators to the court and take their judgment” and will not allow the incident to hurt relations between the two countries.
“We know that many are trying to use this painful thing to create a kind of wedge between Saudi Arabia and Turkey,” he said. “I want to send them a message: They will not be able to do that as long as there is king called King Salman bin Abdul Aziz and a crown prince called Mohammad bin Salman in Saudi Arabia.”
Earlier, in a speech in Ankara, Erdogan vowed not to allow Saudi Arabia to “cover up” Khashoggi’s killing.
“We are determined not to allow a cover-up of this murder and to make sure all those responsible — from those who ordered it to those who carried it out — will not be allowed to avoid justice,” he said.
President Trump, who called Saudi Arabia’s handling of Khashoggi’s death the “worst cover-up ever,” said he had talked to Prince Mohammad, who denied knowing anything about the operation.
“I want to believe him. I really want to believe him. They’ve been a very good ally, Trump told the Wall Street Journal in an interview published late Tuesday.
But he admitted that the crown prince is in charge in Saudi Arabia.
“Well, the prince is running things over there more so at this stage. He’s running things and so if anybody were going to be, it would be him.”
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the US would revoke the visas of some of the Saudi officials implicated in Khashoggi’s death, and the president sent CIA Director Gina Haspel to Turkey to investigate.
Saudi Arabia said Khashoggi was accidentally strangled when he entered the consulate and got into a fistfight with a Saudi security team.
Turkish officials said they believe the Saudis tortured, killed and dismembered the Washington Post journalist.
