The US administration has imposed visa sanctions on 76 Saudi Arabians in connection with the murder of journalist Jamal Hashkuji, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said in a statement. TASS reports.
According to the State Department, these 76 people “threatened dissidents abroad, appeared in the murder of Hashkuji, but not only in it.” Also, the US administration intends to take “additional measures to reinforce the international community's condemnation of this crime and to rebuff those governments that operate outside the borders” of their countries in order to threaten and attack journalists and alleged dissidents, Blinken said.
In addition, the US Treasury, as part of the Global Magnitsky Act, imposed sanctions against the closest aide to the Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, General Ahmed Asiri. The black list also included the elite National Guard unit subordinate to the crown prince, which the American intelligence suspects of involvement in the murder of Hashkuji.
Earlier, the US National Intelligence submitted a report in which it accused the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud, of approving an operation to kidnap or kill Saudi journalist Jemal Hashkuji.
On September 7, 2020, a court in Saudi Arabia sentenced eight people to prison for the murder of dissident Saudi journalist Jemal Hashkuji. The judges changed their minds to execute the murderers – it was assumed that five of them would be subjected to capital punishment. Five people were sentenced to 20 years in prison, one convict will spend ten years in prison, two more – seven years. The journalist's bride called this court decision a farce. In October, she sued the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud, accusing him of involvement in the crime.
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 remarry 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.
