PRAGUE: US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said on Sunday that he had met Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister and called for a transparent investigation into the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Mattis said he met Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir during a conference in Bahrain on Saturday and discussed the killing.

“We discussed it. You know the same thing we talked about, the need for transparency, full and complete investigation,” Mattis told a small group of reporters travelling to Prague with him.

“[There was] full agreement from foreign minister Jubeir, no reservations at all, he said we need to know what happened and it was very collaborative, in agreement,” Mattis added.

Speaking alongside the Czech prime minister later on Sunday, Mattis was asked how an investigation would be able to determine whether Saudi Arabia’s powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had any involvement in the killing.

“Turkey, with the evidence that they have compiled, will ensure that there is more than one review of what is going on here and I’m certain the investigation will include the evidence that Turkey has put forward so far,” Mattis said in the press conference.

Asked whether the US would limit its support to the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, Mattis said on Sunday: “We’ll continue to support the defence of the kingdom.”

Saudi Arabia is leading a Western-backed alliance of Sunni Muslim Arab states trying to restore the internationally recognised government of Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, ousted from the capital Sanaa by the Iran-aligned Houthis in 2015.

The United States and other Western powers provide arms, refuelling and intelligence to the alliance.

Germany has vowed to halt all German arms exports to Saudi Arabia until the killing of Khashoggi is explained.

Saudi Arabia’s attorney general was scheduled to arrive in Turkey on Sunday to hold talks with investigators looking into the slaying of Khashoggi, who was killed in the kingdom’s Istanbul consulate earlier this month.

Turkey has said Saudi Arabia’s top prosecutor, Saud al-Mojeb, is expected to discuss the latest findings of the investigation with Turkish investigators. There has been no announcement by the Saudis about the visit, which comes just days after CIA director Gina Haspel was in Turkey to review evidence before briefing the US president.

Turkey is seeking the extradition of 18 Saudi suspects detained in the kingdom in connection with the Oct 2 killing. Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister appeared to reject that notion in remarks on Saturday, saying the kingdom would try the perpetrators and bring them to justice after the investigation is completed.

Published in Dawn, October 29th, 2018

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