An international organization calls for keeping Mohammed bin Salman a pariah for his crimes
Reporters Without Borders called for keeping Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman a pariah because of his crimes against journalists and their imprisonment.
The organization highlighted that Mohammed bin Salman is currently arresting at least 27 journalists and bloggers and is suspected of ordering the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in October 2018.
“Four years after the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the reintegration of Mohammed bin Salman into international relations cannot take place at the expense of truth and justice,” Reporters Without Borders Secretary-General Christophe Deloire said in a statement.
It stated that each of Mohammed bin Salman’s meetings with foreign leaders raises the issue of impunity surrounding the killing of Khashoggi in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018.
Two reports, one by UN Special Rapporteur Agnes Callamard and a CIA report released in February 2021, concluded that Mohammed bin Salman had a hand in the murder.
During Biden’s visit in mid-July, Mohammed bin Salman said the Khashoggi case was closed. The Saudi trial of those deemed responsible, held behind closed doors from start to finish, ended in September 2020 and resulted in eight people being sentenced to prison terms ranging from three to 20 years.
While Turkey referred its case against the alleged killers of Khashoggi to Saudi justice in April of this year, the Saudi authorities have not taken any action since then.
According to the organization, at least 27 journalists, including media professionals, bloggers and TV commentators, are still detained in Saudi Arabia. Most of them have not been formally charged or tried.
It emphasized that the common feature of these arrested journalists is that they called for a debate on Saudi society when Mohammed bin Salman was embarking on a series of purported reforms.
The last journalist released was Nazir Al-Majed, who was released on July 22 after completing a seven-year prison sentence.
But at least two others have been convicted in the past year or so — Ali Abu al-Rahm, a Yemeni journalist who was sentenced to 15 years in prison in October 2021 for apostasy, and Ahmed Ali Abdelkader, a Sudanese journalist sentenced to four years in prison in June 2021. For “insulting state institutions”.
As a result of the waves of arrests of journalists that have occurred since Mohammed bin Salman was appointed crown prince in 2017, the crown prince has been on Reporters Without Borders list of press freedom predators.
