Washington: United States Senators were on Tuesday convinced of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman’s involvement in the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi following a briefing with Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director Gina Haspel.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker said after the briefing that he believes if the crown prince, who is commonly referred to as MBS, were to be tried, he will be found guilty by a jury in “about 30 minutes”, Al Jazeera reported.
Meanwhile, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said there is “zero chance” that MBS is not involved in the killing.
This comes after over 400 WhatsApp messages, shared between Khashoggi and Canada-based activist and fellow Saudi exile Omar Abdulaziz, revealed the former Washington Post journalist’s sharp criticism for the Saudi prince. CNN had exclusive access to the messages.
Khashoggi had labelled MBS a “beast” and a “pac-man” adding that “the more victims he eats, the more he wants”.
After a number of their conversations were believed to have been intercepted by Saudi officials in August this year, Khashoggi wrote, “God help us” and two months later, he was killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
On Sunday, Abdulaziz pursued legal action against the NGO Group; an Israel-based company that created the military-grade spyware he believes was used by Saudi to hack his phone.
While speaking to CNN, Abdulaziz revealed that two Saudi emissaries, who claimed to have been sent by MBS, had sought to meet him in Montreal in May. This was another crucial development in the narrative as Saudi had maintained since the October 2 killing that their prince had no connections with the plot for the same.
[source_without_link]ANI[/source_without_link]