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Saudi seeks to avoid responsibility for Khashoggi's murder: Commentator

Saturday, 27 October 2018 3:20 PM [ Last Update: Saturday, 27 October 2018 6:41 PM ]

A protestor wears a mask depicting Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman with red painted hands next to people holding posters of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi during the demonstration outside the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul, on October 25, 2018. (Photo by AFP)

The fact that Saudi Arabia is unwilling to extradite suspects detained in connection with the murder of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi to Turkey proves that the kingdom is guilty of the crime, says a political commentator.

“It is pretty obvious that if Saudi Arabia is unwilling to let these people be trialed inside of Turkey –some of those individuals reportedly even specialized assassins for MBS [Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman] himself- I think that it is very clear that they are protecting the individuals who allegedly committed this crime. I think it is very obvious that they did this on behalf of bin Salman himself,” Jason Unruhe told Press TV in an interview on Saturday.

“I think it is very clear by now that Saudi Arabia certainly was behind the murder of Khashoggi and what they are really trying to avoid is any kind of culpability. If you can’t trial them, Saudi Arabia can’t be held accountable for anything that happened,” he added.

Saudi Arabia has rejected Turkey's calls on the kingdom to extradite 18 Saudis wanted for the murder of Khashoggi.

The outright rebuff by Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir on Saturday came a day after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan renewed his call for the 18 men to be extradited for trial in Turkey.

Khashoggi – a US resident, The Washington Post columnist, and a leading critic of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman -- entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2 to obtain a document certifying he had divorced his ex-wife, but he did not leave the building.

Saudi officials originally insisted that Khashoggi had left the diplomatic mission after his paperwork was finished, but they finally admitted several days later that he had in fact been killed inside the building during "an altercation."

However, Saudi Arabia's public prosecutor said that the murder of Khashoggi was premeditated.