Saudi Arabia vows 'complete' probe of Khashoggi murder: Mattis

Manama: Saudi Arabia has promised a “full” investigation into the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, United States Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said on Sunday following talks with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir in Bahrain.

“We discussed it… the need of transparency, full and complete investigation. Full agreement from FM Jubeir, no reservations at all,” Mattis told reporters following the talks.

 “No reservations at all. He (Jubeir) said we need to know what happened and it was very collaborative, in agreement,” the Pentagon chief told reporters on a flight from Manama to Prague where he will mark the centenary of Czechoslovakia.

Read More: Saudi Arabia rejects Turkey’s call to extradite Khashoggi killers

Saudi Arabian journalist Khashoggi, 59, who had criticized the kingdom’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, had lived in self-imposed exile in the United States since 2017.

He was murdered after entering his country’s Istanbul consulate on October 2 to obtain paperwork to marry his Turkish fiancee.

Prince Mohammed, heir to the oil-rich nation’s throne, publicly denounced the murder as “repulsive”, while the Saudi prosecutor acknowledged for the first time this week that based on the evidence of a Turkish investigation the killing had been “premeditated”.

But Riyadh on Saturday dismissed Ankara’s calls to extradite 18 Saudis being held over Khashoggi’s murder.

 Addressing a forum in Manama on Saturday, Mattis warned that “the murder of Jamal Khashoggi in a diplomatic facility must concern us all greatly”.

“Failure of any nation to adhere to international norms and the rule of law undermines regional stability at a time when it is needed most,” he stressed.

Mattis did not have a formal bilateral meeting with Jubeir on the sidelines of the Manama forum, where he met with several Arab and European leaders. They spoke at a dinner gathering all the ministers.