PRESS WATCHDOG RSF FILES LAWSUIT AGAINST SAUDI CROWN PRINCE IN GERMANY

Wed 03 March 2021:

An international media rights group, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on Tuesday said it had filed a criminal complaint against Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman with Germany’s federal public prosecutor’s office. The complaint pertains to his role in the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the detention of other media professionals.

Reporters without Borders, in its complaint, also named 34 other journalists who had been “victims of systematic attacks for political reasons.” The over 500 pages long complaint was filed with German persecutors in Karlsruhe on March 1, Associated Press reported citing the prosecutor’s office.

“On 1 March 2021, RSF (Reporters Without Borders) filed a criminal complaint with the German Public Prosecutor General of the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe, detailing a litany of crimes against humanity committed against journalists in Saudi Arabia..

RSF director of international campaigns Rebecca Vincent said there was currently “complete impunity” for crimes against journalists, and that the complaint aimed to establish accountability.

“If it is successful, we believe that it could be a game changer,” Vincent said.

“It would send a clear signal to others in Saudi Arabia and … in other parts of the world who have committed similar crimes against journalists, that the world will not tolerate this, that even if they evade justice in their own country contexts, there will be other means of achieving accountability.”

RSF cited the German Code of Crimes Against International Law (VStGB), under which the organization says the specified journalists are victims of multiple counts of crimes against humanity, “including willful killing, torture, sexual violence and coercion, enforced disappearance, unlawful deprivation of physical liberty, and persecution.”

“The 35 cases detailed in the complaint reveal a system that threatens the life and liberty of any journalist in Saudi Arabia — in particular those who speak out publicly against the Saudi government,” RSF said.

Khashoggi, a columnist for Washington Post disappeared while visiting Saudi Consulate on his trip to Istanbul in 2018. Later, Suadi officials admitted that Khashoggi was mistakenly killed during an extradition operation. However, the crown Prince continues to deny any knowledge of the same.

The complaint accuses Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, his close adviser Saud Al-Qahtani and three other high-ranking Saudi officials of being responsible for Khashoggi’s killing.

Additionally, it also accuses them of devising policies to silence journalists. “The named suspects were identified for their organizational or executive responsibility in Khashoggi’s killing, as well as their involvement in developing a state policy to attack and silence journalists,” the group said in a statement.

This comes as the US government released a report last week, which blamed Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. The report concluded that it is ”highly unlikely” that Saudi officials would have carried out an operation without the Crown Prince’s authorisation.

The report claimed that since the Crown Prince is the one calling shots in the Kingdom and the team of hitmen who killed Khashoggi involved members of his protective detail, it is likely that the operation was approved by Mohammed bin Salman.

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