Saudi leadership should face trial before international tribunal for alleged role in crime, lawmaker says
An Iranian member of parliament has called for “trying” Saudi Arabia in an international court for its alleged role in the Oct. 2 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul, according to the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA).
“Saudi Arabia has shown its true face with the killing of this journalist and political activist,” ISNA quoted Alaeddin Boroujerdi, a member of parliament’s foreign relations committee, as saying.
Boroujerdi described Khashoggi’s death -- exact circumstances of which remain unknown -- as “a scandal of historic proportions”.
The lawmaker went on to assert that the Saudi leadership should be tried before an international tribunal for its alleged role in the murder.
A columnist for the Washington Post, Khashoggi was last seen on Oct. 2 when he entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.
After days of denying any knowledge of his whereabouts, Saudi officials last week admitted that Khashoggi had died inside the consulate building.
In hopes of defusing the international furor over the journalist’s demise, Saudi King Salman sacked the deputy head of the Saudi intelligence agency (and a top aide), while also ordering the arrest of 18 individuals suspected of involvement in the case.
On Sunday, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir admitted that Khashoggi was killed inside the consulate, but insisted that Mohamed bin Salman -- Saudi Arabia’s high-profile crown prince -- had been unaware of it.
