Khashoggi fiancée: Not punishing Saudi crown prince would be ‘stain on our humanity’

Hatice Cengiz, the onetime fiancée of Jamal Khashoggi, said it would be a “stain on humanity” if Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is not penalized in connection with the journalist’s 2018 killing.

“It is essential that the crown prince … should be punished without delay,” she said in a statement posted to Twitter. “If the crown prince is not punished, it will forever signal that the main culprit can get away with murder which will endanger us all and be a stain on our humanity.”

“Starting with the Biden administration, it is vital for all world leaders to ask themselves if they are prepared to shake hands with a person whose culpability as a murderer has been proven, but not yet punished,” she added.

It’s my statement. #justiceforjamal pic.twitter.com/T9q7qK8AGu

— Hatice Cengiz / خديجة (@mercan_resifi) March 1, 2021

A U.S. intelligence report declassified last week concluded that the crown prince, the kingdom’s de facto ruler, ordered Khashoggi’s killing in a Saudi consulate in Istanbul. The Biden administration has announced sanctions on several people alleged to have been involved but not the crown prince himself. The Saudi government, which has denied involvement in the killing, rejected the report’s conclusions.

Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), a confidant of President Biden, said Sunday that he believes the U.S. is “recalibrating” its relationship with the Saudis.

“I am optimistic that our role in terms of the war in Yemen, the accountability here for Khashoggi’s murder and other ways in which the U.S.-Saudi relationship may change will in fact deliver the accountability that I called for,” he told CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union.”

“We are not yet done with recalibrating the relationship between the United States and the Saudi kingdom,” he added.