Amin Abu Rashed
Hatice Cengiz, Jamal Khashoggi’s fiancée, wasn’t aware that the period she spent outside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, waiting for her fiancée was documented; this uncovered and changed the plan of purging the man and hiding his corpse. Saudi intelligence officer Maher Abdul-Aziz Mutreb also didn’t know that being a part of Khashoggi’s “execution squad”, and having his pictures circulating on different media platforms were enough proof to condemn him, provided that Mutreb is one of the closest security guards of Saudi Prince Mohammed Bin Salman during his visits to America and Europe.
In an interview on a satellite channel, a Saudi opponent used the most adequate, eloquent expression to describe the sitcom that’s being prepared to hide the murderer. “The name of the person responsible for Khashoggi’s execution is a secret matter that Washington and Ankara have been holding on to it based on documents, recordings and laboratory tests. Given that Donald Trump doesn’t make compromises in his relationship with Saudi Arabia, and after declaring that he doesn’t want to lose the arms deal with Saudi Arabia, worth over 100 billion dollars, meanwhile the ball is in Erdogan’s court. He could either handle Khashoggi’s case in an ethical manner by permitting Turkish judiciary to judge based on expert’s reports, or he could be pragmatic, just as Trump. In other words, he could distort and obscure the recordings and; thus, clear the name of Mohammed Bin Salman of the crime,” he said.
Turkey has all the recordings that show Mohammed Bin Salman leading the operation of execution via a videoconference, said doctor Osama Fawzi, a Jordanian journalist who lives in America. We surely don’t buy everything he says; however, politicians and media all over the world are wondering: in case the crime is committed by “Rogue operatives” that have no links to Riyadh’s government, as trump assumes, how come Maher Mutreb, Bin Salman’s personal security guard, is a member of Khashoggi’s “execution squad” without the knowledge of the prince?
Even since the assassination of Nasser Al-Saeed in 1979 for being the first Saudi to oppose the ruling family in 1932, a series of political assassinations of Saudi dissidents have struck, whether by being summoned to the kingdom and disappearing afterwards under mysterious circumstances, or by purging them outside the kingdom. Khashoggi’s case has a special aspect, not because he’s more important than his predecessors, but because his death came at the deadly timing of the future of Muhammad ibn Salman, who is waiting for his coronation on the throne. His father’s sickness isn’t the reason behind the coronation delay. The refusal of a group of Saudi princes, whether inside or outside the Saudi Allegiance Council, to hand over the kingdom for someone “reckless” is the reason behind the coronation delay; it is the last “straw that breaks the camel’s back”.
Bin Salman’s problem regarding Khashoggi’s case isn’t with America that he could shush by one, two or three deals. It isn’t with Europe that calls for human rights and denounces Saudi violations verbally without even sacrificing its sovereign, financial interests and resources. Bin Salman’s problem lies in the fact that the Muslim brotherhood Recep Tayyip Erdogan has the recordings that, if hidden away, would tie Bin Salman, or any other king, up to the hands of Turkey for a long period of time and perhaps forever.
Bin Salman’s problem regarding Khashoggi, whether found guilty or proved that a group of “rogue operatives” has committed the crime (as Donald trump assumes), has wiped out what remains of the Saudi kingdom whether at international, regional or Arab level. Saudi authority, that got a seat earlier on UN Commission on Human Rights, must know that those who used to host Saudis as a source of tourism and trade related revenues, have now equipped their airports to deal with any Saudi delegation similar to the Saudi “execution squad”.
At the Arab and regional levels, Saudi Arabia will inevitably halt its war in Yemen, Qatar has already defeated the kingdom before and after Khashoggi’s case and members of “Gulf Cooperation Council”, which no longer exists, have become more cautious in cooperating with the kingdom, whether direct or indirect cooperation. Saudi kingdom should at least keep standing on two feet by currying favor with all of whom watched Khashoggi’s sitcom.
Source: Al-Manar Website
