Khashoggi murder: US slaps sanctions on 17 Saudi Arabian individuals

Washington D.C. [USA], Nov 15 (ANI): The US Department of State on Thursday imposed global magnitsky sanctions on seventeen Saudi Arabian individuals for their roles in the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
The US State Department in a press statement said, "Today, the United States imposed sanctions on seventeen Saudi Arabian individuals for serious human rights abuse resulting from their roles in the killing of Jamal Khashoggi at the Consulate of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in Istanbul, Turkey, on October 2."
The United States slapped sanctions on Saud al-Qahtani, Maher Mutreb,Salah Tubaigy, Meshal Albostani, Naif Alarifi, Mohammed Alzahrani, Mansour Abahussain, Khalid Alotaibi, Abdulaziz Alhawsawi.
Waleed Alsehri, Thaar Alharbi, Fahad AlbalawiBadr Alotaibi, Mustafa Almadani,Saif Alqahtani, Turki Alsehri, Mohammed Alotaibi were also named in the sanctions list.
The statement further read, "This action was taken under the authority of Executive Order 13818, which implements and builds upon the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act. As a result of this action, all of these individuals' assets within U.S. jurisdiction are blocked, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with them."
The statement also said that at the time of Khashoggi's killing, these individuals occupied positions in the Royal Court and several ministries and offices of the Government of Saudi Arabia.
While talking to Fox News about the incident, al-Jubeir had said, "The individuals who did this, did this outside the scope of their authority. There obviously was a tremendous mistake made, and what compounded the mistake was the attempt to try to cover up. That is unacceptable in any government."
Khashoggi went missing on October 2, after stepping into Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul to collect documents that would allow him to marry fiancee Hatice Cengiz, who was waiting outside the consulate. Cengiz raised an alarm after Khashoggi failed to re-emerge from the Saudi consulate. (ANI)
A few weeks after the October 2 incident, Saudi accepted the fact that the group of 15 Saudi agents were behind the murder of the former Washington Post journalist, leading to an international furore and complicating the already delicate relations between Saudi, Turkey and the US.
In wake of the murder, Germany suspended export licenses to Saudi, while US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo invalidated visas of Saudi officials who are believed to be part of the plot to murder the journalist. France had also threatened sanctions on Riyadh following the killing of the dissident Saudi journalist. (ANI)