BY ANNE MCELVOY
LONDON — Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Britain has aired new details of the country’s reaction to the murder of the dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi six years ago.
The Washington Post contributor was killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul — with a U.S. intelligence assessment concluding that Saudi Arabia’s top leadership bore responsibility for the hit.
Speaking to POLITICO’s Power Play podcast, Ambassador Prince Khalid bin Bandar al Saud rejected the claim, insisting that the Saudi royal family continues to oppose the version of events backed by the U.S. as well as the U.K.
And he disclosed that those the regime claims were responsible are still alive — casting rare light on the fate of the individuals blamed for the assassination.
No order from the top
Asked about the U.S. assessment that responsibility for Khashoggi’s death lay with senior figures, the ambassador said: “Just because an intelligence estimate out of the United States decided something … you know, intelligence agencies all over the world can be wrong.”
This article was originally published in POLITICO