Lebanon’s premier-designate Saad Hariri on Tuesday voiced solidarity with Saudi Arabia amid international criticism against the Kingdom over the murder of critic journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate.
Hariri’s remarks come a day after Reuters news agency reported that his Saudi interrogator during his detention period in Riyadh last year was the official who personally ran Khashoggi’s murder via skype.
Saud Al-Qahtani, part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s inner circle, led the team of operatives who killed Khashoggi on October 2, 2018.
Al-Qahttani himself also led the interrogation of Hariri in 2017 when he was detained in Saudi Arabia and forced to announce resignation from Riyadh, an ordeal which apparently involved verbal humiliation as well as physical abuse, Reuters reported on Monday.
“The measures taken by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia regarding the case of journalist Jamal Khashoggi… come within the framework that serves the path of justice and the disclosure of the whole truth,” a statement from his office quoted him as saying on Tuesday.
The directives of “King Salman bin Abdulaziz would put things in the right direction and contribute to respond to the malicious campaigns targeting the kingdom”, the statement added.
The PM-designate also stressed solidarity with the Saudi Kingdom “under any condition,” according to the statement.
Source: Agencies and Al-Manar
