Herald View: Time to hold West Asian monarchies accountable     

Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s brutal murder inside his country’s consulate in Istanbul last month revolted the world and kept attention riveted on the twists and turns caused by fresh disclosures. It has now been virtually confirmed that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was directly involved in getting Khashoggi eliminated. Media reports quoting intelligence sources now suggest that one of the assassins inside the consulate told a palace official back home on phone, “Tell your boss that the job has been done”.

This audio clip of the conversation intercepted by Turkish intelligence was handed over to CIA Director Gina Haspel when she visited Istanbul to take stock first hand. American media maintain that even the CIA top brass now believe that “the boss’’ is no one else but the Crown Prince himself. The Trump administration, however, is till refusing to accept the Crown Prince’s complicity in the murder. Saudi officials are stubbornly saying that the Crown Prince had no knowledge of the killing of the Saudi government’s critic who was living in exile in the US and had gone to Turkey to collect papers confirming the divorce of his first wife so that he could marry his Turkish girlfriend.

While the Trump administration may still try to defend the Crown Prince on one pretext or the other, it is well known that the White House has its own reasons for doing so. Saudi Arabia is not only vital for American security interests in West Asia but it is also a major global oil exporter.

The Saudi monarchy has always stood by the American establishment whenever Americans chose in favour of military intervention in the region. Be it the First Gulf War or the second one, direct or indirect Saudi complicity with American forces is widely acknowledged. So, President Trump may say something against Khashoggi’s killing under public pressure but he clearly can ill-afford a situation in which Prince Salman may have to personally face the heat. Because beyond a point the US administration cannot afford to annoy the Saudi monarchy.

This episode has brought into global focus the pathetic status of human rights inside Saudi Arabia. Physically eliminating a political rival is a norm practised by most West Asian monarchies where no rule of law prevails. In Saudi Arabia, the ruling clique’s word is the law. It has been an internationally known fact which everyone chose to overlook till now. Khashoggi’s killing has for the first time made human rights a major public issue in West Asian societies. Khashoggi is dead and gone. But his death may not have gone in vain. It is time for the global civil society to stand up for the cause of human rights in West Asian monarchies where no one knows how many Khashoggis die every now and then.