The New Indian Express: MBS made of Saudi a rogue state

The New Indian Express said that Crown Prince bin Salman established a rogue state after being involved in the
murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

It pointed out that after luring the dissident-journalist to the Saudi embassy in Istanbul, he was assassinated and
killed on October 2, 2018, by a government assassination squad hiding in the premises.

It later became clear that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the assassination.

The newspaper added that they were not aware until recently the Saudi regime used the Pegasus spyware to
monitor a huge circle of Khashoggi’s friends and family.

CEO of NSO Shalev Hulio told US television news program 60 Minutes in March 2019 that they “have nothing to
do with this horrific crime.”

It is noteworthy this claim is now proving hollow, as an investigation conducted by the Guardian newspaper of
London three weeks ago revealed how the spyware was used in 2018 for spying on Khashoggi’s wife, Hanan al
Atar, and his fiancée, Hatice Cengiz, and possibly plotting to kill him.

There is more about the Kingdom in recent days as the US Department of Justice is currently battling a lawsuit by a group of companies controlled by the Saudi government.

It targets Saad al-Jabri, a counter-terrorism expert who has worked closely with the currently detained Prince
Muhammad bin Nayef.

However, MBS and the Saudis have since pursued him with embezzlement cases.

Al-Jabri now claims that the Saudis and MBS sent a hit squad to Canada to try to kill him and that the squad
members were part of the team that killed Khashoggi.

He also said that two of his sons are being held hostage in Saudi Arabia.

The Indian newspaper reported that the term “rogue state” was used against North Korea, Kim Jong-un, Cuba
and Libya under Muammar Gaddafi and Iran.

So do many other people who don’t fall into the US scheme of things.

But if the above evidence against Saudi Arabia does not amount to a “rogue state”, what does that mean?

Several US presidents since Ronald Reagan in 1985 have also used the term “rogue state” to describe and impose
sanctions on those regimes that defy international law and do not respect human rights.

Amnesty International’s 2020 report says that the repression has been institutionalized in the country, and anyone known as a human rights defender or critic of the government online finds themselves in prison.

Even members of the royal family who are seen as posing a threat to MBS or expressing their liberal inclinations
are being quickly eliminated.

The Saudi Princess Basma bin Saud bin Abdulaziz Al Saud was arrested in March 2019 to attempt to travel
outside the Kingdom illegally.

She has been in prison since March of last year, and in a palace coup, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
arrested three members of the royal family, including the king’s brother and the former crown prince who could
challenge him to the throne.

Beyond its borders, the Kingdom is waging a genocidal war against Yemen, the poorest Arab country.

Thousands of civilians have been killed in the bombing, with the charity Save the Children estimating that 85,000
children suffering from severe acute malnutrition may have died between April 2015 and October 2018.