Press Watchdog RSF Files Lawsuit against Saudi Prince over Khashoggi

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said Tuesday that it had filed a criminal case in a German court against Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for "crimes against humanity" in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

The complaint, which seeks an inquiry by prosecutors under Germany's international jurisdiction laws, accuses Saudi Arabia of persecuting Khashoggi -- who was murdered at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018 -- as well as dozens of other journalists.

It comes after Washington released a declassified intelligence report last week which determined that Prince Mohammed approved the 2018 killing of Khashoggi, a US-based contributor to The Washington Post.

Saudi officials denounced the report, insisting that Khashoggi was killed in a "rogue operation" that did not involve the crown prince.

But Reporters Without Borders said it had gathered evidence of a "state policy to attack and silence journalists" which it had submitted to the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe, Germany, on Monday.

Its report details the cases of 34 other journalists who have been jailed in Saudi Arabia, including the blogger Raif Badawi, who has been imprisoned in his home country since 2012 on charges of "insulting Islam".

"We call on the German prosecutor to take a stand," Christophe Deloire, secretary-general of the watchdog known by its French abbreviation RSF, said in a statement.

"No one should be above international law, especially when crimes of humanity are at stake," he said.

Contacted by AFP, the court in Karlsruhe confirmed it received the complaint but declined to comment further.

- 'Mockery of justice' -

Besides Prince Mohammed, the complaint targets his top aide Saud al-Qahtani, who is suspected of taking a direct role in the planning and killing of Khashoggi, and three other Saudi officials.

While a Saudi court eventually sentenced 11 unidentified defendants in December 2019 under international pressure, the main suspects remain "fully immune to justice", RSF said.

And the death sentences for five of the suspects were overturned last September, in what Khashoggi's Turkish fiancee Hatice Cengiz called "a mockery of justice".

She has led a campaign to push the international community to punish Saudi Arabia over the extra-territorial murder of a citizen.

The 59-year-old Khashoggi was strangled and his body cut into pieces by a 15-man Saudi squad inside the Istanbul consulate, according to Turkish officials. His remains have not been found.  

Both the CIA and a UN special envoy have directly linked Prince Mohammed to the killing, a charge the kingdom denies.

The US report released last week found that seven members of the hit squad that flew to Istanbul came from the Rapid Intervention Force, which it said "exists to defend the crown prince" and "answers only to him".

President Joe Biden's administration imposed sanctions on the Rapid Intervention Force -- meaning any US transactions with it will be a crime -- and said it was banning entry into the United States of 76 Saudis under a new policy against foreign officials who harass dissidents.

But it stopped short of personally targeting the 35-year-old crown prince, who is the de facto leader as well as the defence minister of one of the world's largest oil suppliers.