Khashoggi killing: US sanctions Saudi Crown Prince’s top aide, 16 others

The United States Treasury has introduced sanctions against 17 Saudi nationals over their suspected roles in the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said in a notice on its website on Thursday.

The Treasury notice confirmed that sanctions would include restrictions against Saud al-Qahtani, a former top aide to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, as well as Mohammed Alotaibi, Consul General at Saudi Arabia’s Istanbul consulate.

“The Saudi officials we are sanctioning were involved in the abhorrent killing of Jamal Khashoggi.

“These individuals who targeted and brutally killed a journalist who resided and worked in the United States must face consequences for their actions,” Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin was quoted as saying.

Mnuchin demanded that the Saudi government “take appropriate steps to end any targeting of political dissidents and journalists.”

In a separate statement on the new sanctions, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo indicated that the State Department would continue to seek all the “relevant facts,” consult the US Congress, and “work with other nations to hold accountable those involved” in Khashoggi’s murder.

According to Pompeo, the targeted individuals “occupied positions in the Royal Court and several ministries and offices of the Government of Saudi Arabia” at the time of Khashoggi’s killing.

Earlier on Thursday (today), Saudi Attorney General, Saud al-Mojeb, had demanded the death penalty for five out of the 11 defendants who are accused of participating in the murder of Khashoggi in a Saudi diplomatic compound in Istanbul.Punch