US ‘rights’ report avoids linking murderer MbS to Khashoggi murder despite CIA report

In the section on Khashoggi’s murder, the US State Department report released on Wednesday attributed the crime to “government agents,” without mentioning the controversial prince.

This is while The Washington Post, for which Khashoggi was a columnist, reported last November that the CIA had concluded that the heir to the Saudi throne – also known as MbS — ordered the assassination of the journalist, who was an outspoken critic of bin Salman.

‘CIA concludes bin Salman ordered Khashoggi murder’

The Washington Post says the CIA has concluded that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

In its account of Khashoggi’s death, the State Department report acknowledged that he “was killed by government agents during a visit to the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul, Turkey,” in early October 2018.

“The government initially claimed he had left the consulate in good health but changed its story as facts came to light,” the report added.

At a press conference unveiling the document, Ambassador Michael Kozak of the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor claimed that the report relies on facts rather than speculation on Khashoggi’s murder case.