Saudi suspects in Khashoggi death to be barred from entering UK: PM May

UK Prime Minister Theresa May has announced the Saudi Arabian men suspected of murdering Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi will not be allowed to enter Britain.

 “The Home Secretary is taking action against all suspects to prevent them entering the UK. If these individuals currently have visas, those visas will be revoked today,” May said while addressing lawmakers at a Parliament session on Wednesday.

May also revealed that she was due to speak to King Salman of Saudi Arabia later in the day to discuss the killing of Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2.

“The foreign secretary and the foreign ministers and our ambassador have been making our position very clear to the Saudi Arabians,” she said.

Several officials in the team allegedly sent from Riyadh to assassinate Khashoggi are close aides to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

May also directly dismissed Saudi claims that Khashoggi died after getting involved in a brawl during a failed attempt to kidnap him back to the kingdom.

“The claim that has been made that Khashoggi died in a fight does not amount to a credible explanation, so there does remain an urgent need to establish exactly what has happened,” May told Parliament at Prime Minister’s Questions.

British media have begun reporting that Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb, the man named by Turkish media as the leader of the assassination operation against Khashoggi, used to work at the Saudi embassy in London.

End support for brutal regime

In response to her comments on Saudi and Khashoggi, the leader of the Scottish National Party, Ian Blackford, challenged the prime minister on her government’s relationship to the “brutal regime” of Saudi Arabia.

He demanded that the Government ban all arms sales to the kingdom, which he stressed was “responsible for multiple human rights violations.”

PressTV-Only Saudis have answers to Khashoggi case: UK

UK government says new revelations about Khashoggi shows key to the case remains with the Saudis.

“Critics face death by crucifixion, teenagers tortured, women imprisoned for campaigning for their human rights, the brutal bombardment of Yemen, pushing that country to the brink of famine, and now the state-sponsored murder of Jamal Khashoggi,” said Blackford.

 “What more evidence of criminality does the Prime Minister need before she fully commits to ending the sale of arms to the brutal regime of Saudi Arabia?” he asked.

May stressed that the UK was concerned about the humanitarian situation in Yemen and Khashoggi’s murder but emphasized that the Government continues to support the Saudi-led war on Yemen.

“I might remind the right honorable gentleman that yes, we do support the Saudi-led coalition’s military intervention in Yemen that was recognized,” she said.

The UK has been deeply involved in the Saudi war on Yemen, making millions of pounds in profit from selling arms to the regime which has been used on civilian targets in Yemen.

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