Seventeen Saudi officials have been sanctioned under the US's Magnitsky designations (AFP/ File photo)
The United States has imposed sanctions on 17 Saudi officials, including Saud al-Qahtani, a confidant and senior adviser to powerful Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, in the first round of sanctions related to the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.
The US Treasury Department blacklisted the individuals with Global Magnitsky designations on Thursday, which would block their assets in the US and ban US financial transactions with them.
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the Saudi officials targeted by the sanctions were involved in the "abhorrent killing" of Khashoggi.
"These individuals who targeted and brutally killed a journalist who resided and worked in the United States must face consequences for their actions," Mnuchin said in a statement.
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Saudi Arabia seeks death penalty for five Khashoggi murder suspects
Khashoggi, a Saudi citizen and prominent journalist who was critical of the Saudi government, was murdered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on 2 October after going in to retrieve personal documents.
In its statement, the US Treasury described Qahtani as "a senior official of the Government of Saudi Arabia who was part of the planning and execution of the operation" that led to Khashoggi's killing.
The Saudi consul general to Istanbul, Mohammad al-Otaibi, who led early efforts by Saudi Arabia to convince journalists and critics that Khashoggi had left the consulate alive, is also on the list of individuals targeted by the US sanctions.
So is Maher Mutreb, an aide to bin Salman who had been spotted in the crown princes entourage during diplomatic trips abroad.
"The United States continues to diligently work to ascertain all of the facts and will hold accountable each of those we find responsible in order to achieve justice for Khashoggis fiancee, children, and the family he leaves behind," Mnuchin said.
He also called on Riyadh to take "appropriate steps" to end the targeting of dissidents and journalists.
Sanctions 'not enough'
The US sanctions come as Saudi Arabia announced Thursday that it would be seeking the death penalty for five individuals convicted of killing Khashoggi.
However, the Saudi public prosector's office made no direct mention of bin Salman – commonly referred to as MBS – who, despite Saudi denials, is widely believed to have had knowledge of the plan to kill Khashoggi.
Critics say the involvement of senior officials who would normally report directly to MBS confirms that he ordered the assassination.
Qahtani has vast influence in the crown princes circle and once said he would never do anything without his boss's approval.
"Do you think I rebuke (others) on my own accord without direction? I am an employee and a loyal executor of the orders of my master, the king, and my master, his highness the crown prince," Qahtani tweeted last summer.
In an audio recording of Khashoggi's murder, Mutreb, who was part of a 15-member hit team sent to Turkey to kill Khashoggi and is also subject to Thursday's sanctions, told an aide of the crown prince to "tell your boss" after the killing, the New York Times reported earlier this week.
US intelligence officials told the newspaper they believe the "boss" in question was bin Salman.
They murdered a US resident, with dual US citizen children, who wrote for a US paper, in a Saudi diplomatic building in Turkey. This is a goddamn international crime and should be investigated as such. https://t.co/xmw4ErzfFT
— Karen Attiah (@KarenAttiah) November 15, 2018
Khashoggi's Washington Post editor, Karen Attiah, said Thursday that US sanctions were "not enough".
"Sanctions will not fix this," Attiah tweeted, calling for an international investigation into what happened to the journalist.
US under pressure to hold Saudis accountable
Saudi Arabia has so far presented various contradictory versions of the events that led to Khashoggis death.
Officials from the kingdom first rejected the now-validated claim that Khashoggi never left the consulate alive. It wasnt until 17 days after the crime that Riyadh admitted that the journalist was indeed killed inside the building.
While Saudi officials then said Khashoggi was killed during an unauthorised interrogation that went wrong, they later acknowledged that the murder was premeditated.
Saudi-US relations have been rocked amid the crisis over Khashoggi's killing, as politicians from both major US parties quickly denounced Saudi Arabia and called for Washington to rethink its relationship with Riyadh altogether.
Leading members on the US Senate's Foreign Affairs Committee first triggered the Magnitsky Act in relation to Khashoggis case last month.
Under the human rights act, which was used against Russian nationals involved in serious crimes, Donald Trump was given 120 days to issue a report on the findings and impose appropriate measures.
The Trump White House, meanwhile, has approached the crisis cautiously. While branding the murder and subsequent attempt to hide it “the worst cover up ever”, the US president has repeatedly highlighted the importance of Washingtons economic ties with Riyadh, including billions of dollars worth of arms deals.
Trump has also said that it is important for him to know that bin Salman has not been involved in the murder.
I dont think theres any question that (MBS) directed it, knew it
-Bob Corker, outgoing Senate Foreign Affairs Committee chairman
Earlier this week, US national security adviser John Bolton said there was no evidence to tie the Saudi crown prince to the crime.
That's been disputed by several US politicians, however.
Republican Senator Bob Corker, the outgoing Senate Foreign Affairs Committee chairman, told The Hill the intelligence “points to” MBS. "I dont think theres any question that he directed it, knew it," Corker said.
“Its pretty hard for me to believe that 15 people just on their own fly to Turkey and chop somebody up in a consulate and never tell anybody in Saudi Arabia about it,” said Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, when asked about Boltons comment, as reported by The Hill.
“Id be shocked if that turns out to be true.”
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