Friday, 10 July 2020_The United Kingdom has reportedly offered Saudi Arabia profuse apologies, only days after London publicly leveled criticism against the ultra-conservative kingdom over its human rights abuses and imposed sanctions on the Riyadh regime in this regard.
According to a report published by the online publisher The Independent, British officials “called to apologize” to the Riyadh regime on Monday after the government imposed economic sanctions on 20 Saudi nationals held responsible for the killing of US-based dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Khashoggi, a 59-year-old Washington Post columnist, was killed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018. Turkish officials said his body was dismembered by the killers and his remains have yet to be found.
Turkish prosecutors indicted 20 Saudi nationals over the gruesome murder, including several with close ties to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS).
Some Western governments and intelligence services, as well as the CIA, say they believe MbS, Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, ordered the killing.
British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace is understood to have discreetly telephoned the Saudi crown prince, who is also the kingdom’s Saudi defense minister, on Wednesday to reiterate the UK’s support for the Riyadh regime and its work.
The call was not publicized by the British government, but Saudi Arabia’s state-run news agency SPA boasted about it in a press statement released on Wednesday.
“His Royal Highness Prince Khalid bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Deputy Minister of Defense, received yesterday a phone call from His Excellency British Defense Secretary [sic], Mr. Ben Wallace, during which the partnership between the two countries was discussed, especially in the defense field, and the efforts made by the two countries to enhance regional and international security,” the statement read.