At the meeting, Bin Salman, also known as MBS, denied responsibility for Khashoggi’s assassination at the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul. Biden said he indicated he did not agree with MBS, according to U.S. intelligence assessments, according to the source. In response to Biden speaking about Khashoggi, MBS cited sexual and physical abuse of prisoners in Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq by U.S. military personnel and the May assassination of Palestinian journalist -American Shireen Abu Akleh in the occupied West Bank as incidents that badly reflected the US, the source said.
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir echoed the sentiment in an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer shortly after the end of the meeting, of which Jubeir was a part.
“We have investigated, punished and made sure this does not happen again,” Jubeir said when asked about Khashoggi’s murder. “That’s what countries do. That’s what the US did when the Abu Ghraib mistake was made.”
Abu Ghraib Prison was a U.S. military detention center for captured Iraqis from the start of the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 until the prison closed in 2006. In 2004, a collection of graphic images of the prison, depicting torture and sexuality, was leaked. abuses of Iraqi prisoners by US military personnel. Eleven American soldiers were convicted of scandal-related crimes. Renowned journalist Al Jazeera Abu Akleh was lethally shot dead during an Israeli military raid on the occupied West Bank city of Jenin.
Abu Akleh was a well-known name in the Arab world, having spent decades reporting on the suffering of Palestinians under Israeli occupation. The images obtained by CNN, corroborated by the testimony of eight eyewitnesses, an audio forensic analyst and an expert in explosive weapons, suggested that Abu Akleh, who was wearing a helmet and a blue protective vest marked “Press” at the time of his death, he was shot dead in a targeted attack by Israeli forces.
On Friday in the West Bank, Biden said the US insists on a “complete and transparent accounting” of the journalist’s murder.
Biden called Abu Akleh’s death a “huge loss” while standing alongside Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Bethlehem.
“I hope his legacy … inspires more young people to continue their work of telling the truth and telling stories that are often overlooked. The United States will continue to insist on a full and transparent account of his death and what They will continue to stand up for media freedom around the world, “Biden said.
Palestinian officials and members of Abu Akleh’s family have criticized the U.S. investigation and called on them to do more to make Israel responsible for the assassination.
Khashoggi rose to head the Biden-MBS meeting
In a quick speech after Biden’s bilateral talks with MBS, the president said he raised Khashoggi’s assassination at the start of the meeting.
“Regarding Khashoggi’s assassination, I raised it at the head of the meeting, making it clear what I thought about it at the time and what I think about it now,” Biden told reporters. “I was simple and straightforward in talking about it. I made my vision very clear.”
But the human rights discussion appears to have been overshadowed by broader talks on energy security, regional stability, trade and investment, according to several officials. Iran’s nuclear ambitions and the war in Yemen are also believed to have been key parts of the talks.
“Those responsible (for Khashoggi’s murder) have been investigated and confronted the law and are paying the price for their crime,” Jubeir told CNN about the discussion. “The conversation advanced as far as the official discussion is concerned.”
Senior administration officials on Saturday defended Biden’s decision to meet face-to-face with MBS, despite strong rejection and criticism, saying it would have been “a setback if the president had not come to the region and that it would be a setback if it did not. I was not willing to sit down and raise human rights concerns with foreign leaders around the world. ”
“It’s hard to say that values will be a key part of your foreign policy and that human rights matter to us significantly as a nation and certainly as an administration, and then not going abroad and not talking to ( leaders) sincerely and directly on this concerns, ”a senior administration official said.
Biden arrived in Jeddah looking for solutions to one of his main political problems at home: very high petrol prices, as diplomacy with Saudi Arabia in the Middle East was seen as one of the few routes he could take to lower prices. putting tension on millions of Americans.
But White House officials say the president will not return to Washington on Saturday with explicit increases in oil production. The expectation is that there will be increases in the coming months, made in the context of the increase in production levels of the OPEC + cartel presented at its August meeting.