US senators certain of Saudi Crown Prince's involvement in Jamal Khashoggi's killing

After a highly classified briefing by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director Gina Haspel, US senators were on Tuesday certain that Saudi crown prince Mohammed Bin Salman was involved in Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s killing. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker said that if the crown prince were to appear before a jury, he would be convicted in 30 minutes, according to news reports. Republican senator Lindsey Graham said that there is “zero chance” that MBS (a popular name for the Saudi crown prince).

Though the senators were not allowed to disclose the details of the briefing but going by their reactions, it could be made out that the CIA had incriminating evidence to prove that the Crown Prince was behind the killing of the Saudi journalist.

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Jamal Khashoggi was highly critical of the Saudi crown prince and had labelled him a “beast” and “pac-man” adding that “more victims he eats, the more he wants,” as reported by news agency ANI. As many as 400 WhatsApp messages were exchanged between Khashoggi and Canada-based activist and fellow Saudi exile Omar Abdulaziz. A number of messages were believed to be intercepted by Saudi officials this year in August, prompting Khashoggi to write “God help us”. He was killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul two months later on October 2.

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On Sunday, Abdulaziz filed a lawsuit in a Tel Aviv court wherein he said that he was friends with Khashoggi and worked with him on a project meant to rein in pro-monarchy Saudi trolls. The lawsuit said Abdulaziz received and clicked on a link sent to his phone in June 2018 that he argues exposed his mobile communications to Saudi authorities.