The fiancée of slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi on Thursday expressed outrage at French President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to host Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for talks, Agence France-Presse reported.
“I am scandalized and outraged that Emmanuel Macron is receiving with all the honors the executioner of my fiancé, Jamal Khashoggi,” Hatice Cengiz told AFP.
Macron’s talks in Paris with the oil-rich kingdom’s de facto ruler — widely known by his initials MBS — come as Western powers search for new sources of energy that rely less on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.
Khashoggi was killed and dismembered after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to complete paperwork that could allow him to marry Cengiz in October 2018.
A UN probe described Khashoggi’s death as an “extrajudicial killing for which Saudi Arabia is responsible.”
The Saudi crown prince has denied ordering Khashoggi’s murder.
“All the international investigations carried out up to this point… recognize the responsibility of MBS in the assassination,” Cengiz said.
“The surge in energy prices because of the war in Ukraine cannot justify that — in the name of alleged realpolitik — we absolve the person responsible for Saudi policy towards political opponents,” she said.