Jen Psaki
The United States did not impose sanctions on Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud over the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Hashkuji because it felt there were “better ways” to punish Riyadh. So the decision of the administration was explained by the press secretary of the White House Jen Psaki, reports CNN.
Psaki explained that such a move would preserve opportunities for cooperation with the country in areas that affect the national interests of the United States. “This is what diplomacy looks like,” she said. Nevertheless, the spokesman for the American leader stressed that the United States will take “direct action” on the world stage to bring those responsible for the murder to justice.
On February 26, US National Intelligence released a report in which it accused the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud, of endorsing an operation to kidnap or kill Saudi journalist Jamal Hashkuji. After that, the US administration imposed visa sanctions on 76 citizens of Saudi Arabia, who, according to the State Department, “threatened dissidents abroad, appeared in the murder of Hashkuji, and not only in it.”
Hashkuji disappeared on October 2, 2018 after a visit to the Saudi Consulate General in Istanbul. He went there to obtain documents that would help him file a divorce and marry a Turkish woman. Turkish media, citing sources in law enforcement and investigative agencies, reported that the authorities have confirmation that Hashkuji was brutally tortured in the consulate building and then killed.
