RSF files lawsuit to charge Saudi crown prince in Khashoggi murder

Paris, Mar 2 (efe-epa).- The German branch of Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on Tuesday said it had filed a lawsuit accusing Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of a crime against humanity for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.

The Saudi dissident journalist was killed in his country’s consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2, 2018. His body has never been retrieved.

“We call on the German prosecutor to take a stand and open an investigation into the crimes we have revealed,” RSF secretary general Christophe Deloire said in the statement.

The press freedom activists filed the more than 500-page criminal complaint under Germany’s universal jurisdiction law against bin Salman and four other high-ranking Saudi officials, including his close advisor Saud al-Qahtani.

The document also focuses on the arbitrary detention of 34 journalists between 2012 and 2019 in the kingdom, 33 of them are still in custody. This includes prominent blogger Raif Badawi.

On Friday, a US intelligence report stated that the Saudi crown prince had authorized the operation to murder the Washington Post columnist.

Saudi Arabia is ranked 170th out of 180 countries in the RSF’s World Press Freedom Index. EFE-EPA