RIYADH, January 3 -- Saudi state media say that 11 suspects in the slaying of journalist Jamal Khashoggi have attended their first court hearing, with prosecutors seeking the death penalty for five of them. Thursday's brief statement from the state-run Saudi Press Agency did not name the suspects. Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington Post, was killed on October 2 at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. He had written columns critical of Saudi Arabia's powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Saudi Arabia initially denied Khashoggi was killed but acknowledged his slaying weeks later. Turkish media have published photographs of members of the crown prince's entourage at the consulate ahead of the slaying. Khashoggi's body, believed to have been dismembered, has not been found.
0 Comments
RIYADH, December 29 -- The Arabian Peninsula’s largest state, both in land mass and population, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia faces some of the region’s largest challenges in the year ahead. While 2018 started out with a foreign policy success – the US pulling out of the nuclear deal with rival Iran – the months that followed have left the country in a damaged condition going into 2019. A draining conflict in neighboring Yemen, the continuing fallout from the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, the suspected kidnapping of the Lebanese prime minister, a stalemate in the Qatar blockade, and defeat for Saudi-funded opposition factions in Syria all made 2018 a bruising year for the country – and for its 33-year-old crown prince and effective CEO, Mohammed bin Salman (popularly known as MBS). These overseas issues have also left MBS’s domestic reform agenda stalled, with a need to shore up support at home, as he tries to restart a long-overdue restructuring of the highly oil-dependent economy.
Politics After the 2016 launch of an ambitious domestic reform agenda, Vision 2030, MBS imprisoned some of the country’s wealthiest people in the Ritz-Carlton hotel in 2017. This made him some silent enemies amongst the kingdom’s elite. His father, the ailing, 83-year-old King Salman, has played an important role in keeping potential rivals under control, taking his son on a tour of the country to shore up support for his agenda. RIYADH, December 1 -- Saudi Arabia stressed on Tuesday that Israeli violations in Palestinian territories will obstruct international efforts to achieve peace. The Kingdom’s permanent representative to the Arab League Bader bin Saud Al-Toraifi Al-Shammari said: “Stemming from its constant stance on the Palestinian cause, Saudi Arabia condemns the Israeli violations in Palestine and its attacks against unarmed civilians.” He made his remarks before an extraordinary Arab League meeting in Cairo that was aimed at addressing the Palestinian cause. He stressed the need for the international community to assume its responsibilities towards the Palestinian people. Shammari said that Riyadh rejects the decisions by some countries to relocate their embassies in Israel to Jerusalem. Such a step shows great bias against the Palestinian people’s historic rights and international resolutions that recognize their rights, he added. Brazil's president-elect Jair Bolsonaro announced in November his intention to move his country's embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. On Saturday Australia announced its recognition of west Jerusalem as Israel's capital, although a contentious embassy shift from Tel Aviv will not occur until a peace settlement is achieved NEW YORK, December 18 -- Oil prices fell more than 4 per cent on Tuesday as planned production curbs by global producers. Led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, producers failed to allay concerns about renewed oversupply stoked by swelling US shale output. Fears about weaker oil demand amid a potential slowdown in the global economy have also added to worries about how effective the supply cuts will be. The fall in oil prices comes amid a broader sell-off in the global equities market due to persistent worries centred on how the US-China trade spat could hit economic growth. Prices“Prices are continuing to nose-dive,” said Carsten Fritsch at Commerzbank. “The effect of the announced production cuts after Opec’s meeting [earlier this month] has evaporated entirely.” International benchmark Brent crude fell $1.70 (€1.50) a barrel to $57.91 in mid-morning trading in London, having fallen as low as $57.20 – marking the third consecutive day of declines. West Texas Intermediate, the US benchmark, fell $1.51 a barrel to $48.37, the lowest level since September, 2017. Global producers have agreed to cut production by 1.2 million barrels a day (b/d) to halt a more than 30 per cent slide in oil prices, since hitting $86 a barrel in October. The move came in defiance of US president Donald Trump who had called for the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) to keep output elevated and prices low. But record output from Saudi Arabia above 10 million b/d since July coincided with news that the US would issue waivers to buyers of Iranian oil – at the same time as imposing sanctions against Tehran’s economy – allowing more oil than anticipated on to the market. Output Still, Iranian output and exports have fallen sharply this year and other producers such as Venezuela have seen a slide in their supplies because of turmoil in their countries. Production and exports from Libya’s largest oilfield, El Sharara, have also been halted due to security issues. Still, this has not been enough to help firm up oil prices as hoped by global producers, which largely rely on revenues from crude exports to support their economies. Data from the US energy department showed that the US has surpassed Russia and Saudi Arabia as the world’s biggest oil producer, with overall crude production climbing to a weekly record of 11.7 million b/d. This has fuelled doubts about the effectiveness of the supply curbs and raised questions among traders and analysts about how long Opec and its allies will be willing to trim its supplies to benefit US rivals. Market participants are also questioning how much Russia will pull back on its production, after also hitting a record level above 11.4 million b/d in December. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2018 OTTAWA, December 17 -- Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said for the first time that his Liberal government is looking for a way out of a multibillion-dollar arms deal with Saudi Arabia. Speaking in a TV interview that aired on Sunday, the comments represented a notable hardening in tone from Trudeau, who previously said there would be huge penalties for scrapping the $13bn agreement for armoured vehicles made by the Canadian unit of General Dynamics Corp. "We are engaged with the export permits to try and see if there is a way of no longer exporting these vehicles to Saudi Arabia," Trudeau told CTV. He did not give further details. Political opponents, citing the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and Saudi Arabia's involvement in the Yemen war, insist Trudeau should end the General Dynamics deal, which was negotiated by the previous Conservative government. In October Trudeau maintained that he was reluctant to cancel the controversial contract with Saudi Arabia in the wake of the Khashoggi case as it would cost Canada C$1bn ($747m). Trudeau said that the "difficult" contract was made in a way that "makes it very difficult to suspend or leave the contract". "I do not want to leave Canadians holding a billion-dollar bill because we're trying to move forward on doing the right thing," Trudeau said in October. "So we're navigating this very carefully." Relations between Ottawa and Riyadh have been tense since a diplomatic dispute over human rights earlier this year. Ottawa says it has been consulting allies on what steps to take after Khashoggi was killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. "The murder of a journalist is absolutely unacceptable and that's why Canada from the very beginning had been demanding answers and solutions on that," said Trudeau. Human rights groups have been issuing letters to Trudeau since 2016, asking him to cancel the controversial arms deal with Saudi Arabia. "To provide such a large supply of lethal weapons to a regime with such an appalling record of human rights abuses is immoral and unethical. The spirit and letter of both domestic export controls and international law support this view," said the letter signed by representatives of human rights organisations such as Amnesty International. "We believe the regime's integrity has been utterly compromised with the government's decision to proceed with the largest arms sale in Canadian history to one of the world's worst human rights violators." There is a "reasonable risk" that Canadian-made military hardware is being used against civilians, the letter noted, considering Saudi Arabia's "abysmal and worsening human rights record, both within Saudi Arabia and in neighbouring Yemen". RIYADH, November 23 -- Saudi Arabia has arrested 18 people and dismissed five senior government officials as part of an investigation into the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and critic of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2 to obtain documents that he needed to get married. After weeks of saying he left the consulate alive, the Saudi administration later admitted Khashoggi was killed there, blaming his death on a group of rogue Saudi operatives. Turkish sources, however, say 15 Saudi intelligence operatives flew to Istanbul on two private jets hours before Khashoggi was killed and his body dismembered. Most among the group of 15 worked in the Saudi military, security or intelligence services, including at the royal court, according to Turkish officials and sources with ties to the royal court. Reports said the Saudi foreign ministry, headed by Adel al-Jubeir, issued the passports to the hit squad to enter Turkey. The private jets from Riyadh to Istanbul and back were chartered from a company owned by the Saudi government. Turkey's Sabah newspaper published what it said were photographs of the men taken from surveillance footage at the airport, two hotels they briefly checked into, the consulate, and the consul's residence. Saud al-Qahtani, 40, is the highest-profile figure implicated in the killing. Believed to be the right-hand man of Prince Mohammed, he was removed as a royal court adviser following Khashoggi's assassination. Qahtani, however, was not a part of the 15-member squad that flew to Turkey. Authorities profiled the men part of the hit-squad suspected to be behind the killing, based on photographs, reports and information from officials in Turkey and Saudi Arabia:
HELSINKI, November 22 -- Finland will not issue new arms export authorisations to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates due to the humanitarian situation in Yemen.
“The Government discussed arms export matters and decided that in the current situation there are no foundations for new arms export authorisations to Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates,” the Thursday, November 22 release said. “In its deliberations, the Government laid stress on the alarming humanitarian situation in Yemen, in particular.” The two Persian Gulf states lead an alliance that intervened in Yemen’s civil war in 2015, supporting President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi’s government against the Iran-backed Houthi rebels. The grinding war has caused growing international outcry, particularly after a string of high-profile coalition strikes that have killed scores of civilians, many of them children. Finland joins Denmark, Germany and Norway, who all recently froze arms arms exports to Saudi Arabia over Yemen and the murder of high-profile Saudi journalist Jamal Kashoggi in Istanbul. “Finland’s arms export is based on a careful case-by-case discussion,” the ministry said, adding that it “observes the European Union’s arms export criteria, in which special attention is paid to human rights and to the protection of regional peace, security and stability.” The UAE was Finland’s biggest arms export customer in 2017, according to a foreign ministry report. Eleven export licenses were issued, valued at €36,352,120 ($41.5 million). Saudi Arabia was granted three permits, valued at a total of €1,508,970 ($1.7 million). The total value of realized exports from Finland in 2017 was €106.4 million ($121.4), a drop of around 20 percent on 2016. The UAE accounted for 8.4 percent of those exports, valued at €8.9 million ($10.2 million), while Saudi Arabia accounted for almost 5 percent at €5.3 million ($6 million). RIYADH, November 20 -- Some members of the Saudi royal family are trying to prevent Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman from becoming king amid international uproar over the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
"Dozens of princes and cousins from powerful branches of the Al Saud family want to see a change in the line of succession but would not act while King Salman - the crown prince's 82-year-old father - is still alive," Reuters reported. One of the sources claimed that they intend to support Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz, King Salman's younger brother. Reuters said that "Prince Ahmed, King Salman's only surviving brother, would have the support of family members, the security apparatus and some Western powers." The Saudi sources also said that US officials are concerned not only about the Saudi crown prince's alleged role in the Khashoggi death, but also about his intention "to explore alternative weapons supplies from Russia." In Mohammed bin Salman's letter to the defense ministry seen by Reuters, the crown prince advises to "focus on purchasing weapon systems and equipment in the most pressing fields," including Russian S-400 missile systems. Jamal Khashoggi, known for his criticism of Saudi Arabia's policies, left his home country and moved to the United States in 2017. He worked for The Washington Post, analyzing the situation in Saudi Arabia and the country's foreign policy. On October 20, Saudi authorities announced that the journalist died in a fight in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the murder had been carefully planned. The international community condemned Khashoggi’s murder and called for a transparent investigation. The Washington Post earlier reported that US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has concluded that Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the assassination of Khashoggi. "The CIA’s assessment, in which officials have said they have high confidence, is the most definitive to date linking Mohammed to the operation," the newspaper said citing people familiar with the matter. "In reaching its conclusions, the CIA examined multiple sources of intelligence, including a phone call that the prince's brother Khalid bin Salman, the Saudi ambassador to the United States, had with Khashoggi," the Washington Post added noting that "Khalid told Khashoggi <...> that he should go to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to retrieve the documents and gave him assurances that it would be safe to do so."
NEW YORK, November 20 -- OPEC has lost what control of the oil market it ever had. The actions (or tweets) of three men — Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin and Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman — will determine the course of oil prices in 2019 and beyond. But of course they each want different things. While OPEC struggles to find common purpose, the U.S., Russia and Saudi Arabia dominate global supply. Together they produce more oil than the 15 members of OPEC. All three are pumping at record rates and each could raise output again next year, although they may not all choose to do so. It was Saudi Arabia and Russia that led the push in June for the OPEC+ group to relax output restraints that had been in place since the start of 2017. Both subsequently jacked up production to record, or near record, levels. U.S. output soared unexpectedly at the same time, as companies pumping from the Permian Basin in Texas overcame pipeline bottlenecks to move their oil to the Gulf coast. These increases, alongside smaller downward revisions to demand growth forecasts and President Trump’s decision to grant sanctions waivers to buyers of Iranian oil, have flipped market sentiment from fears of a supply shortage to concerns about a glut in the space of three months. Oil stockpiles in the developed nations of the OECD, which had been falling since early 2017, are rising again and are likely to exceed their five-year average level when October data are finalized, according to the International Energy Agency. As oil prices have headed south, Saudi Arabia said it would cut exports by 500,000 barrels a day next month and warned fellow producers that they needed to cut about 1 million barrels a day from October production levels. That drew a lukewarm response from Putin and swift Twitter rebuke from Trump.
Bin Salman needs oil revenue to fund his ambitious plans to transform Saudi Arabia, while avoiding unrest from those hurt in the process. The International Monetary Fund forecasts that the kingdom will need an oil price of $73.3 a barrel next year to balance its fiscal budget. Brent crude is trading about $5 below that, with Saudi Arabia’s exports trading at a discount to the North Sea benchmark. Prolonging output cuts for a third year is the only way he can realize the price he needs. He will face more challenges from Putin and Trump. The Russian president shows no great enthusiasm for restricting his country’s production again. Moscow’s budget is much less dependent on oil prices than it was when Russia agreed to join OPEC-led efforts to re-balance the oil market in 2016 and the country’s oil companies want to produce from the fields where they have invested. Putin may yet decide that maintaining his improved political relationship with MBS, as the Crown Prince is known, is worth a small sacrifice. But it’s not a foregone conclusion that Russia will agree to extend output cuts when producers gather in Vienna next month. Putin says oil prices of around $70 a barrel suit him “completely.” The opposition from Trump will — naturally — be much louder and comes at a time when he and MBS are trying to preserve their political relationship, while American senators consider harsher sanctions on Saudi Arabia in response to the war in Yemen and the killing of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi. A bigger U.S. threat to Saudi plans than Trump’s tweets will come from the Texas oil patch. American producers have added a volume equivalent to the entire output of OPEC’s Nigeria in the past 12 months. Their production could reach 12 million barrels a day by April, according to the Department of Energy. That’s six months sooner than it was forecasting just a month ago and 1.2 million barrels a day more than it foresaw in January. Saudi Arabia will have to risk Trump’s wrath, Putin’s indifference and a booming U.S. shale industry if it hopes to balance the oil market in 2019. RIYADH, November 19 -- Saudi Arabia's King Salman is expected to make his annual address to the kingdom's Shura council, following a nation-wide tour with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
In his speech on Monday, King Salman bin Abdulaziz will present Saudi Arabia's internal and external policy, and inaugurate the proceedings of the Shura council, the Saudi Press Agency reported. The expected address comes as members of the US Congress renewed their calls to condemn the kingdom following an assessment by the CIA that the crown prince personally ordered the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. "It is certainly testing the position that the enemy of our enemy is our friend," said Representative Adam Schiff, a Democrat from California, and a frequent critic of US President Donald Trump. "The president needs to listen to what our intelligence community has to say." Senator Lindsey Graham, a Trump ally, said the crown prince has been a "wrecking ball" in the relationship between the US and Saudi Arabia. "I hate to say that because I had a lot of hope for him being the reformer that Saudi Arabia needs, but that ship has sailed as far as Lindsey Graham's concerned," the South Carolina Republican told NBC's "Meet the Press". "I have no intention of working with him ever again," said Graham, who is in line to be the next chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Congressmen also gave mixed assessments of Trump's pick for acting attorney general, Matt Whitaker, who was named to the post to temporarily replace Jeff Sessions. "I don't know if he's the best choice," said Graham on Sunday when asked whether he should be appointed to permanently lead the US Justice Department. Whitaker has been a vocal opponent of the special counsel probe into Trump, leading some to fear that his appointment would jeopardise the investigation. Whitaker told Graham last Thursday that the investigation will proceed, according to a person familiar with the meeting. WASHINGTON, November 17 -- US President Donald Trump has said he had not yet been briefed on the CIA's conclusions regarding Khashoggi's murder, but that he would speak with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the CIA about the issue on Saturday.
The CIA believes Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (also known as MBS), the country's de-facto ruler, ordered Khashoggi's killing. But Trump, speaking to reporters at the White House before flying to California, also reiterated that he had been told MBS had not played a role in the journalist's death. "We haven't been briefed yet," Trump said. "We will be talking with the CIA later and lots of others. I'll be doing that while I'm on the plane. I'll be speaking also with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo." Trump and top administration officials have said Saudi Arabia should be held to account for any involvement in Khashoggi's death and have imposed sanctions on 17 Saudis for their role in the killing. But they have also stressed the importance of Washington's ties with Riyadh, even while US lawmakers have called on the administration to punish Saudi Arabia over the murder. RIYADH, November 15 -- Saudi Arabia's deputy public prosecutor has said the kingdom is seeking the death penalty for five people who have been accused of carrying out the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.
Shaalan al-Shaalan told a news conference in Riyadh on Thursday that Ahmed al-Assiri, the kingdom's former deputy head of intelligence, dispatched a team to Turkey to persuade Khashoggi to return to Saudi Arabia. He said after "talks with him failed", the head of the Saudi team in Istanbul ordered that Khashoggi be killed. The 59-year-old then died from a lethal injection and his body was dismembered and taken out of the building, he said. Al-Shaalan said 21 people were now in custody, with 11 indicted and referred to trial, adding that Saud al-Qahtani, a former adviser to the royal court, had been banned from travelling and remained under investigation. Al-Shaalan said Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, also known as MBS, was not implicated in the gruesome murder that has triggered global outrage. Khashoggi, a critic of MBS's supposed reform programme, entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2 to obtain a document certifying his divorce. Saudi authorities had initially stated the journalist left the consulate, before backtracking and admitting on October 20 he was killed by "rogue" operatives. Turkish officials have said it is unlikely Khashoggi could have been killed without the knowledge of MBS, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan saying the orders came from "the highest levels of the Saudi government." According to the New York Times, a member of the Saudi team that killed Khashoggi made a phone call shortly after his death, instructing someone in Saudi Arabia to "tell your boss" that the assassination had been carried out.Later on Thursday, Mevlut Cavusoglu, Turkey's foreign minister, criticised the Saudi announcement as "insufficient" and insisted the killing was "premeditated." "Turkish law is applicable in this case, even though the murder took place in the Saudi consulate," he said, demanding that all the suspects be extradited and "tried in accordance with Turkish law". ISTANBUL, November 13 -- A member of a Saudi assassination squad phoned a superior shortly after Jamal Khashoggi was murdered and told him "tell your boss" their mission had been accomplished, The New York Times reported.
Citing three people familiar with a recording of Khashoggi's killing collected by Turkish intelligence, the newspaper said while he was not mentioned by name, US officials believe "your boss" was a reference to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. US intelligence officials view the recording as some of the strongest evidence yet linking bin Salman to the murder, it said.Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb, one of 15 Saudis sent to Istanbul to target Khashoggi, made the phone call and spoke in Arabic, sources told the Times. Mutreb is a security officer who frequently travels with the crown prince. Turkish intelligence officers told US officials they believe the call was made to one of bin Salman's close aides. "The deed was done," Mutreb told the aide, though the paper noted exact translations into English may differ. ISTANBUL, November 12 -- About 200 people gathered in Istanbul to honour the memory of murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, demanding justice over the killing.
Supporters met on Sunday to talk and watch videos of eulogies for the Washington Post contributor, who was killed on October 2 inside Istanbul's Saudi consulate, where he went to handle paperwork for his upcoming marriage. His fiancee was among the participants of the memorial. Turan Kislakci, head of the Turkish-Arab Media Association (TAM), to which Khashoggi belonged, called for justice to be done "so that these barbaric tyrants can never do the same thing again". Yemeni human rights activist Tawakkol Karman, who won the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize for her participation in the Arab Spring uprisings, said the killing was reminiscent of crimes committed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group. Saudi Arabia has changed its narrative about the murder several times amid international outcry and intensifying scepticism over its account. After insisting for more than two weeks that Khashoggi had left the consulate, it then admitted the journalist had died in a fistfight inside the building. Later, Riyadh conceded Khashoggi was killed in a premeditated murder, but that the murder was an unplanned "rogue operation". "The move could send prices upwards as Russia and the US continue to break records in oil production" RIYADH, November 11 -- Saudi Arabia has said it will trim oil exports by 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) in December, as major producers met to consider cuts to shore up declining prices.
The announcement was made by Khalid al-Falih, the kingdom's energy comments, in comments he gave to reporters at the meeting in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter, has been pumping 10.7 million bpd since October, according to Falih. While Riyadh has decided to lower production, the rest of the attendees did not come to a consensus on the matter, according to Falih. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which is led by Saudi Arabia, agreed in June with a bloc of 10 petroleum-producing nations led by Russia, to increase global supply by one million bpd. Since then, OPEC production has risen 820,000 bpd since May, according to the latest S&P Global Platts OPEC survey. Russia said in November it hit a 30-year high of 11.41 million bpd in October, an increase of about 440,000 from May. The US also hit a record-high of 11.6 million bpd in November, CNBC reported. The glut in production came as investors expected losses from Iranian oil production, which has come under sanctions re-instated by the US administration of President Donald Trump. Venezuela, another of the world's top oil producers and OPEC member, is mired in economic and political turmoil that has strained its production. The South American country's oil production fell almost 13 percent in 2017, according to figures released by OPEC in January. |
Thank you for choosing to make a difference through your donation. We appreciate your support.
This website uses marketing and tracking technologies. Opting out of this will opt you out of all cookies, except for those needed to run the website. Note that some products may not work as well without tracking cookies. Opt Out of CookiesCategories
All
Archives
April 2024
|