By AYSE WIETING and SUZAN FRASER
ISTANBUL (AP) — Hatice Cengiz, the fiancee of murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, described Joe Biden’s determination to go to Saudi Arabia as “heartbreaking,” accusing the U.S. president of backing down from his pledge of prioritizing human rights.
In an interview with The Associated Press in Istanbul a day earlier than Biden travels to Saudi Arabia Friday to fulfill with the crown prince, Cengiz stated Biden ought to press Saudi Arabia — a rustic that she described as a “terrible ally” — to embrace a human rights agenda. She additionally desires Biden to hunt extra solutions from Saudi authorities over what occurred to Khashoggi’s stays.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has lengthy denied any information or involvement in Khashoggi’s killing, which was carried out contained in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul by brokers who labored for the younger inheritor to the throne. A U.S. intelligence report that Biden declassified after coming to workplace stated Khashoggi’s killing couldn’t have occurred with out Prince Mohammed’s information.
Cengiz had gone with Khashoggi to the Saudi Consulate for an appointment to choose up paperwork wanted to marry her. While she waited outdoors, he went in — and by no means reappeared.
“That day destroyed my life. And I don’t want to remember any part of that day,” Cengiz stated Thursday, recalling that they’d deliberate to decide on new furnishings for his or her house after his consulate go to and meet with pals.
At the time of his homicide, Khashoggi was a U.S. resident and contributing columnist for The Washington Post who had written articles crucial of the crown prince’s widening crackdown on activists. He had beforehand held positions within the Saudi authorities, however had was a critic at a time when the crown prince was being hailed in Western capitals for ushering in social reforms inside the dominion.
The October 2018 killing and makes an attempt to cowl it up drew worldwide condemnation, and the status of Prince Mohammed has by no means absolutely recovered.
The prince has, nonetheless, begun to lure again huge title Western buyers who initially shied away from the dominion after the killing. He’s additionally reset ties with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as Turkey seeks Gulf investments to buoy the strained economic system.
The kingdom tried and located some folks responsible for the operation that killed Khashoggi, however no senior officers or anybody liable for overseeing it was ever convicted.
Biden got here to workplace a pointy critic of the crown prince, pivoting away from the nice and cozy relationship cultivated underneath President Donald Trump. Biden stated throughout his marketing campaign that he believed Khashoggi was killed on orders of Prince Mohammed, describing the dominion as a “pariah” and stating “there’s very little social redeeming value in the present government in Saudi Arabia.”
“It’s a very huge backing down actually,” Cengiz stated of Biden’s determination now to reset diplomatic ties with Saudi Arabia now. “It’s heartbreaking and disappointing. And Biden will lose his moral authority by putting oil and expediency over principles and values.”
Oil costs have been steadily climbing for months, however elevated much more after Russia’s struggle in Ukraine. Energy costs, inflation and the economic system are on voters’ minds as Americans put together to move to the polls this November.
Members of Biden’s Democratic Party have urged the president to make human rights a key a part of his discussions with the crown prince throughout his assembly Friday whereas acknowledging that Saudi Arabia is a vital U.S. ally and oil producer.
Biden on Thursday declined to decide to mentioning Khashoggi’s homicide when he meets the prince.
“I always bring up human rights,” Biden stated throughout a joint information convention with Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid. “But my position on Khashoggi has been so clear. If anyone doesn’t understand it, in Saudi Arabia or anywhere else, then they haven’t been around for a while.”
Biden stated the aim of his journey to Saudi Arabia is “broader” and designed to “reassert” U.S. affect within the Middle East. He’s scheduled to attend a summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council, which incorporates a number of Arab nations.
Cengiz expressed profound disappointment with Biden’s stance.
“One of Biden’s promises (was) being different. It was a very big hope to me to believe, again, that Biden will do something for me and for Jamal,” she stated. “Instead of being different now, he’s doing the same and embracing dictators in the region right now. So it’s a very disappointing for me.”
“He has to ask what happened to his body? Where is his body? Still we do not have any answer,” she added. “And people need to get the truth in this case. And we cannot forget.”
“We cannot forget what happened to Jamal.”
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Fraser reported from Ankara, Turkey.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”