Saudi Arabia’s pro-democracy party launched a campaign against the kingdom’s crown prince in the US, accusing him of aiding and abetting the murder of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Faraan: The National Assembly Party (NAAS), an opposition party of Saudi Arabia with members mostly living in exile, has reserved advertisements on trucks in the Washington DC, showing Mohammad Bin Salman with blood-stained hands, press Tv reported.
“We deserve democracy, not Mr. Bone-saw the crown prince,” reads one of the advertisements, referring to the crown prince as ‘Mr. Bone-saw’.
Khashoggi, a prominent Saudi journalist who lived in the US at the time of his death, was murdered at Saudi Arabia’s Istanbul consulate in October 2018. His body was later dismembered.
Saudi Arabia initially issued conflicting versions about his disappearance, but eventually claimed that he had been killed in a “rogue” operation, without owning responsibility.
US intelligence agencies earlier this year admitted that the notorious Saudi crown prince had ordered the killing of Khashoggi, a strong critic of the Saudi rulers, and then tried to eliminate the evidence.
President Joe Biden, who promised during his election campaign to hold the Saudi leader accountable for the murder, later said he was not going to hold a head of the state accountable for the crime.
“We held accountable all the people in that organization – but not the crown prince, because we have never, that I’m aware of … when we have an alliance with a country, gone to the acting head of state and punished that person and ostracized him,” Biden told ABC News in March.
Protesters in Washington on Monday condemned the silence of the US government over it and demanded the democratic transition in the Arab country.
The trucks moved around the US capital, driving in front of the White House, the Saudi Embassy and the US Congress, while attracting attention from by-passers.
The organizers also posted pictures on the Twitter, saying they were marching in defense of the Saudi people.
“The NAAS sends a message on the streets of the capital Washington defending the Saudi people: “we deserve democracy, not Mr. Bone-saw”,” read one of the tweets.
The Saudi king, who is in his mid-80s, has given his son a free hand to suppress and silence his critics, including members of the extended royal family as well as journalists and activists.
