UN Trump to 'punish' Saudis over dead journalist

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-45850514

President Donald Trump has said the United States will inflict "severe punishment" on Saudi Arabia if the kingdom is found to be responsible for the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

He said he would be "very upset and angry if that were the case", but ruled out halting big military contracts.

Mr. Khashoggi, a critic of the Saudi government, vanished on 2 October after visiting its consulate in Istanbul.

Saudi Arabia dismissed allegations that it ordered his killing as "lies".

The interior minister said on Friday that the kingdom was keen to uncover "the whole truth", stressing reports "about orders to kill" are "baseless".

A Turkish security source has told the BBC that officials had audio and video evidence proving Mr. Khashoggi, who writes for the Washington Post, was murdered inside the consulate.

The country's Foreign Minister, Mevut Cavusoglu, said Saudi Arabia was not yet cooperating with the investigation.

He urged it to do so and allow Turkish officials to enter the consulate.

In an interview with CBS News, Mr. Trump said that, if true, the fact that a journalist was murdered was "terrible and disgusting".

"We're going to get to the bottom of it and there will be severe punishment," he said.

"As of this moment, they deny it vehemently. Could it be them? Yes," he added.

However, he said that there were "other ways of punishing" than cancelling military contracts, which powers like Russia and China were interested in.

"I don't want to hurt jobs, I don't want to lose an order like that," Mr. Trump said.

On Friday, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres told the BBC that "this kind of incident is multiplying" and urged the international community to respond.

He said that, once it was clear what had happened to Mr. Khashoggi, governments should decide "in the appropriate way" whether to attend an investment conference to be held in the Saudi capital Riyadh this month.

Jim Kim, the head of the World Bank, has already withdrawn from the event.

Sir Richard Branson, the head of Virgin, has said he is suspending his role as director of two tourism projects.

He has also halted discussions about a $1bn (£750m) investment by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund into Virgin's space ventures.

The latest reports suggest an assault and a struggle took place in the consulate.

A Turkish security source has confirmed to BBC Arabic the existence of an audio and a video recording. What is not clear is if anyone other than Turkish officials has seen or heard them.

One source is quoted by the Washington Post as saying men can be heard beating Mr. Khashoggi; it adds that the recordings show he was killed and dismembered.

"You can hear his voice and the voices of the men speaking Arabic," a separate source told the Post, which employed Mr. Khashoggi as a contributing columnist. "You can hear how he was interrogated, tortured and then murdered."

Turkish TV has already broadcast CCTV footage of the moment Mr. Khashoggi walked into the consulate for an appointment at which he was due to receive papers for his forthcoming marriage to Turkish fiancée Hatice Cengiz.

Separately, a video has emerged of men described as Saudi intelligence officers entering and leaving Turkey.

Turkish media say sources have identified a 15-strong team involved in Mr Khashoggi's disappearance. The BBC has been told that one was Maher Mutreb, an intelligence colonel based in London, and another was thought to be a forensics specialist.

A bit off-topic, but these Brits need to get better writers. All the weird typos in this article were annoying as hell to edit.

But if it comes out that this was an assassination, and the Saudi Arabian government has this guy's blood on their hands, it'd be awesome as fuck for Trump to pull a rug from under them. Journalists can be skeezy fucks (see also: Kurt Eichenwald), but their freedom of speech should not be restricted. No sirree.

 

[Haramburger]

A bit off-topic, but these Brits need to get better writers. All the weird typos in this article were annoying as hell to edit.

real writers get killed/threatened for writing the truth & hard-hitting pieces, It's a shame to see shit journos writing about real ones.

 

[JustStopDude]

It is weird to me to see repeated claims that this man was both a member of the Muslim Brotherhood and Al-Qaeda. These two groups are not allies. They hate each other.

The biggest issue is that Muslim Brotherhood supports democracy whereas Al-Qaeda affiliated groups like ISIS views this as apostasy. They also advocate for women having a role in government, though much limited. They are downright hippies compared to everyone else.

It is also very weird to see how MB is shown in the West news because it fails to show accurate picture so as to explain why many governments in the region wish to stamp it out but never manage to do it.

MB started in Upper Egypt. This is southern, poor part of Egypt. In most parts of the third world, the military is very powerful economic entity and this is very true in Egypt. The army will run hotels, stores, banks, etc. Almost all medical services go through army. And they do not provide services very well in Upper Egypt. So the MB fills this void. The provide many services that the government should, but they fail to do so, like ambulances, education, daycare. This is what has made them powerful in the region. They are not just violent insurgents, but also doctors, engineers, etc.

So why do governments in the Middle East hate them? Well in few places that allow democracy, they routinely do well in polls. Every election Egypt has allowed going back tot he 70's, the MB has done very well so the military declares the election void, arrest major leaders, and things go back to usual. Also in places like Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, the average citizen does not work. They get government welfare and a house. They do not work. So you see crazy shit like the Arab drifting on youtube? Those are young, bored, rich citizens. Some of them are in their fucking 30's! Any hint of political agitation, and the punishment is severe. Since the MB advocates elections instead of these kingdoms, this puts massive target on their backs.

I was in the UAE when a group of local citizens were accused of having a single meeting with a BM member. The women got 10 years. The men got 20 years and lost their citizenship. So even if they survive the prison sentence, they can never leave the country, never use any services, never have use a home, etc. All of these people will die from exposure in the prison. The trial was behind closed doors and the results were not released until months later.

So the idea this man had ties to MB makes no sense. If the Saudi government had any hint of evidence, they would arrest him and have close trial. They do this all the time. This is a country that routinely executes children.

And again, almost all other insurgent groups in the Middle East hate the Muslim Brotherhood because they advocate democracy which to hardline Islam is a huge offense. So the added claim he was both MB member and a supporter of more extreme groups...how does that work?

The SA government was retarded. They should have invited him back. Have bullshit sham trial. Lock him up until he died. But when you are super rich asshole and all your people are afraid to tell you your idea is terrible, this stupid shit happens.

 

[Your Weird Fetish]

Theocratic Muslim democracy is pretty shitty democracy. "No it's ok, the baby fucking genocidal Caliph was elected by the Ummah."

 

[JustStopDude]

Theocratic Muslim democracy is pretty shitty democracy

Not like the theocratic Muslim absolute monarchy is a better alternative. You allow democracy, I suspect the violent insurgents spend more time killing in their own country as oppose to easily being exported like Saudi Arabia does now.

 

[Your Weird Fetish]

Not like the theocratic Muslim absolute monarchy is a better alternative. You allow democracy, I suspect the violent insurgents spend more time killing in their own country as oppose to easily being exported like Saudi Arabia does now.

If only there was some way to render all of them powerless.

 

[JustStopDude]

If only there was some way to render all of them powerless.

US develop an effective National Energy policy?!?! What are you a communist?!?

I kid. Give it another 20 years, that region will go back to nothing.

 

[Your Weird Fetish]

US develop an effective National Energy policy?!‽

We don't really need them for energy now. Don't we mostly just use them to force the rest of the first world to keep the dollar strong?

 

[CWCissey]

Nuke the cube.

 

[pwnest injun]

real writers get killed/threatened for writing the truth & hard-hitting pieces, It's a shame to see shit journos writing about real ones.

Kushaggi was a journalist in the same way that Joseph Goebbels was a journalist.

 

[Your Weird Fetish]

Kushaggi was a journalist in the same way that Joseph Goebbels was a journalist.

What's your point? How are either of those two different from any real journalist?

 

[Adolf Von Merkel]

So why do governments in the Middle East hate them?

Because they killed an Egyptian president/dictador.
Because after winning in Egypt and Turkey president who are affined to the MB, they tried/are trying to turn the country into a islamist shithole(egypt dodge it because the coupt).
Because Sudanese Muslim Brotherhood are retards who think that vaccines are a conspiracy of the jews.
Because the moderm jihadism terrorism is a mix of Bin Laden and Muslims brotherhood's views.
Because Hamas is shit.

The journalist obviously is a MB member or believe some of their bullshit.And people only related him to AQ because he interview Bin Laden.
I'm not gonna say that I'm happy that he is dead because of his family will miss him but this don't change my toughts about the MB and Wahhabism.All sides in this conflict are shit.

 

[Haramburger]

Kushaggi was a journalist in the same way that Joseph Goebbels was a journalist.

What's your point? How are either of those two different from any real journalist?

My threshold and disgust for bad journalists hover around people like Nathan Grayson & Sarah Jeoung. I'd hoped it didn't seem like I was trying to put Kushaggi on a pedestal, given my biases.