Hey, remember the horrific and grisly murder of journalist and Saudi Arabia dissident Jamal Khashoggi? The one Donald Trump basically let the kingdom get away with because he was able to sell them some weapons and he thinks the U.S. is one of his shitty Atlantic City casinos? For those who need a refresher: On October 2, 2018, the Washington Post columnist walked into the Saudi consulate and in Turkey and was never seen again. After first claiming it had no knowledge of the matter whatsoever, the kingdom admitted that Khashoggi had died in the consulate, initially claiming it happened in a fistfight and then copping to the fact that, oh, yeah, the killing was premeditated. This, plus the CIA’s conclusion that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the assassination of a U.S. resident, probably should’ve resulted in Trump punishing or at least criticizing the de facto leader, but instead, he basically covered for the guy.
Anyway, on Monday, Saudi Arabia’s public prosecutor announced that five people had been sentenced to death in connection with the killing—none of whom are the guy U.S. intelligence say ordered the murder—and the White House would like people to believe that justice has been served:
In addition to unsurprisingly letting bin Salman—who denied he directed the killing—get off scot-free, two senior aides to the crown prince were cleared of wrongdoing. In a statement, Shalaan al-Shalaan, a spokesman for the Saudi public prosecutor, who works for the government the prince runs, said an investigation had showed “there was no prior intention to kill at the start of this mission,” which the CIA’s own investigation concluded is…not true at all. As human rights advocates have noted, a fair trial was never going to happen, given bin Salman’s absolute power. Adam Coogle, a Middle East researcher for Human Rights Watch, told the Post in a text message Monday that Saudi Arabia’s “absolution of its senior leadership of any culpability in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi raises serious concerns over the fairness of the criminal proceedings.” He added that the kingdom’s handling of the killing—“from complete denial to hanging the murder on lower-level operatives in a trial that lacked transparency, demonstrates the need for an independent criminal inquiry.”
Anyway, sentencing five patsies to death is just one prong of Saudi Arabia’s current PR initiative—it also appears to be working with Western celebrities and influencers to promote a kinder, gentler kingdom that people associate with Coachella-esque music festivals and not, say, dismemberment via bone saw.
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