Germany should not approve arms sales to Saudi Arabia until investigations into the circumstances of journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s death have been completed, Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said.
Maas’s statement, which appeared to reverse a decision to sell artillery systems to Riyadh, came after he and Chancellor Angela Merkel rejected as unsatisfactory Saudi Arabia’s explanation for the death of the dissident journalist in its Istanbul consulate.
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas. Source: AAP
After days of denying that it was involved in the death of the Washington Post journalist at its Istanbul consulate, Saudi Arabia finally admitted early Saturday that Khashoggi had died during a "brawl" inside the mission.
Eighteen Saudis have been arrested in connection with his death and two top aides of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, as well as three other intelligence agents, have been sacked.
'No reason to take positive decisions on arm exports'
In an interview for public television’s Tagesthemen program, Maas said he believed no weapons should be sold to the kingdom until the circumstances of Khashoggi’s death had been cleared up.
“As long as investigations are underway, as long as we don’t know what happened there, there is no reason to take positive decisions on arms exports to Saudi Arabia,” he said.
The decision last month to authorize the sale, part of an effort to normalize relations with the kingdom, stirred controversy because it ran against an earlier pledge not to sell arms to countries involved in the Yemen war.
Saudi Arabia is a major weapons buyer, spending US$69.4 billion on military purchases last year, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
The Institute also finds that only the US and China spend more on military expenditures but because Saudi Arabia does not have its own local industry, it imports its weapons from other countries.
American arms manufacturers make up more than half of all weapons imports to Saudi Arabia, the Institute finds.
Germany suggests UN-backed probe
In the strongest Western reaction to Riyadh’s admission that Khashoggi had died in the consulate, Merkel and Maas earlier condemned the killing, demanding that Riyadh make clear what had happened.
“We condemn this act in the strongest terms,” read a joint statement, in which they demanded “transparency” from Riyadh. “The information available about events in the Istanbul consulate is inadequate.”
A security guard stands behind barriers blocking the road leading to Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul. Source: AAP
Expressing deep sympathy to Khashoggi’s friends and relatives, Merkel and Maas said those responsible for his death must be held accountable.
In his interview, Maas added that a United Nations-backed probe of the killing might be a means of improving the “objectivity and credibility” of any findings.
France says Saudi Arabia's explanation incomplete
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian called for an in-depth investigation of the Khashoggi case. “The confirmation of Mr. Jamal Khashoggi’s death is a first step toward the establishment of the truth. However, many questions remain unanswered,” he said in a statement.
The Saudi statement made no mention of what had become of body of Khashoggi, a Saudi national who was a US resident.
Saudi Arabia had until now strenuously denied that Khashoggi had died in the consulate.
But the Saudi public prosecutor said on Saturday that a fight broke out between Khashoggi and people who met him in the building, leading to his death.
Eighteen Saudi nationals had been arrested, the prosecutor said.
Saudi Arabia’s justice minister said in a statement issued by state news agency SPA on Saturday that Khashoggi’s case will be looked at by Saudi courts when all procedures are complete.
Turkish officials search for Khashoggi’s body
Khashoggi’s Turkish fiancée, Hatice Cengiz, tweeted in Arabic: “They have taken your body from this world, but your beautiful smile will stay in my world forever.”
Turkish investigators, who have been combing a forest and other sites outside Istanbul, are likely to find out what happened to his body “before long”, a senior Turkish official told Reuters on Saturday.
Turkish sources say the authorities have an audio recording purportedly documenting Khashoggi’s murder inside the consulate. Pro-government newspaper Yeni Safak, citing the audio, said his torturers cut off his fingers during an interrogation and later beheaded him.
A CCTV still image allegedly shows Hatice Cengiz (circled), fiancee of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi waiting outside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Source: AAP
A 'shocking' violation of the Vienna Convention: EU
The EU's top diplomat Federica Mogherini called for a thorough investigation into the "deeply troubling" death of Saudi critic Jamal Khashoggi and full accountability for those responsible.
"The emerging circumstances of Jamal Khashoggi’s death are deeply troubling, including the shocking violation of the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations," said a statement on Mogherini's behalf.
"Therefore the European Union, like its partners, insists on the need for continued thorough, credible and transparent investigation, shedding proper clarity on the circumstances of the killing and ensuring full accountability of all those responsible for it," it added.
European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini. Source: AAP
The statement alleged the violation of article 55 of the Vienna Convention, which is about the "Respect for the laws and regulations of the receiving State."
The article added: "The consular premises shall not be used in any manner incompatible with the exercise of consular functions."
The EU expressed its condolences to Khashoggi's family and friends and hailed the work of a journalist who had often contacted European institutions.
