(GNB Desk): Reporters without Borders (RSF), a Paris-based media watchdog has filed a criminal complaint with the German Public Prosecutor General targeting Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and other high-ranking Saudi officials responsible for crimes against humanity.
The complaint reveals the widespread and systematic nature of the persecution of journalists in Saudi Arabia, in particular the arbitrary detention of 34 journalists and the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi.
RSF announced the criminal complaint on Tuesday, four days after the U.S. released a declassified intelligence report that said- “Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman approved an operation in Istanbul, Turkey to capture or kill Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi”.
In a statement, RSS says- “On 1 March 2021, RSF filed a criminal complaint with the German Public Prosecutor General of the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe, detailing a litany of crimes against humanity committed against journalists in Saudi Arabia”.
The complaint, a document of over 500 pages in German, addresses 35 cases of journalists: slain Saudi columnist Jamal Khashoggi, and 34 journalists who have been jailed in Saudi Arabia, including 33 currently in detention — among them, blogger Raif Badawi”, the statement read.
“A crime against humanity is a widespread and systematic attack committed by individuals in full knowledge of this attack against a civilian population. In Saudi Arabia, journalists, who are a civilian population according to international law, are victims of widespread and systematic attacks for political reasons in furtherance of a state policy aimed at punishing or silencing them. The five suspects identified in the complaint are fully responsible”, statement read.
A global media for the latest news, entertainment, music fashion, and more.
