Saudi FM Adel Al Jubeir: Jamal Khashoggi killing was ‘tremendous mistake’ carried out in rogue operation (Video)
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The National -- Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al Jubeir said that the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi was a “tremendous mistake” carried out by officers in a rogue operation that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was “not aware” of.
In the first interview by a Saudi official on record since Riyadh admitted on Saturday that the columnist was dead, Mr Al Jubeir told Fox News the kingdom did not have the full details about how the journalist was killed, nor where his body was.
“We don’t know, in terms of details, how. We don’t know where the body is,” he told the American news network.
Overnight Sunday, King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman called Khashoggi’s son, Salah, to express their “heartfelt condolences", the Saudi Press Agency.
A Saudi Foreign Ministry statement on Saturday said Khashoggi died after an altercation at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul where he had entered to collect a divorce document but Riyadh was not yet fully aware of how the altercation happened.
“The crown prince is not aware of this operation, even the senior leadership of our intelligence service was not aware of this. This was ... a rogue operation,” said Mr Al Jubeir.
“This was an operation where individuals ended up exceeding the responsibilities they had and they made the mistake when they killed Jamal Khashoggi in the consulate and they tried to cover up for it.”
He said such a cover-up was “unacceptable in any government” and the investigation into Khashoggi’s death would be the start of a long process. He said Saudi King Salman was determined to hold those responsible to account.
“These things unfortunately happen. We want to make sure that those who are responsible are punished and we want to make sure we have procedures in place to prevent it from happening again,” he said.
“We are determined to uncover every stone. We are determined to find out all the facts and we are determined to punish those who are responsible for this murder.”
