US implicates Saudi crown prince in Khashoggi's killing

 

US implicates Saudi crown prince

 in Khashoggi's killing

WASHINGTON (AP) — Saudi Arabia’s crown prince likely approved the killing of U.S.-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, according to a newly declassified U.S. intelligence report released Friday that instantly ratcheted up pressure on the Biden administration to hold the kingdom accountable for a murder that drew worldwide outrage.

The intelligence findings were long known to many U.S. officials and, even as they remained classified, had been reported with varying degrees of precision. But the public rebuke of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is still a touchstone in U.S-Saudi relations. It leaves no doubt that as the prince continues in his powerful role and likely ascends to the throne, Americans will forever associate him with the brutal killing of a journalist who promoted democracy and human rights.

Yet even as the Biden administration released the findings, it appeared determined to preserve the Saudi relationship by avoiding direct punishment of the prince himself despite demands from some congressional Democrats and Khashoggi allies for significant and targeted sanctions.

Questioned by reporters, Secretary of State Antony Blinken defended the approach.

“What we’ve done by the actions we’ve taken is not to rupture the relationship but to recalibrate it to be more in line with our interests and our values,” he said. “I think that we have to understand as well that this is bigger than any one person.”

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The conclusion that the prince approved an operation to kill or capture Khashoggi was based on his decision-making role inside the kingdom, the involvement of a key adviser and members of his protective detail and his past support for violently silencing dissidents abroad, according to the report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

Though intelligence officials stopped short of saying the prince ordered the October 2018 murder, the four-page document described him as having “absolute control” over the kingdom’s intelligence organizations and said it would have been highly unlikely for an operation like the killing to have been carried out without his approval.

Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry responded by saying the kingdom “categorically rejects the offensive and incorrect assessment in the report pertaining to the kingdom’s leadership.”

Shortly after the findings were released, the State Department announced a new policy, called the “Khashoggi Ban,” that will allow the U.S. to deny visas to people who harm, threaten or spy on journalists on behalf of a foreign government. It also said it would impose visa restrictions on 76 Saudi individuals who have engaged or threatened dissidents overseas.

The State Department declined to comment on who would be affected, citing the confidentiality of visa records. But a person familiar with the matter said the prince was not targeted. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

The Treasury Department also announced sanctions against a former Saudi intelligence official, Ahmad Hassan Mohammed al Asiri, who U.S. officials say was the operation’s ringleader.

Democrats in Congress praised the administration for releasing the report — the Trump administration had refused to do so — but urged it to take more aggressive actions, including against the prince.

Rep. Adam Schiff, chair of the House Intelligence Committee, urged the Biden administration to consider punishing the prince, who he says has the blood of an American journalist on his hands.

“The President should not meet with the Crown Prince, or talk with him, and the Administration should consider sanctions on assets in the Saudi Public Investment Fund he controls that have any link to the crime,” Schiff said in a statement.

Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, called for consequences for the prince — such as sanctions — as well as for the Saudi kingdom as a whole.

Rights activists said the lack of any punitive measures would signal impunity for the prince and other autocrats.

Without sanctions, “it’s a joke,” said Tawwakol Karman, a Nobel Peace Price winner from neighboring Yemen and friend of Khashoggi’s.

While Biden had pledged as a candidate to make Saudi Arabia a “pariah” over the killing, he appeared to take a milder tone during a call Thursday with Saudi King Salman.

A White House summary of the conversation made no mention of the killing and said instead that the men had discussed the countries’ long-standing partnership. The kingdom’s state-run Saudi Press Agency similarly did not mention Khashoggi’s killing in its report about the call, focusing on regional issues like Iran and the war in Yemen.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki has told reporters that the administration intends to “recalibrate” the U.S. relationship with Saudi Arabia. Biden previously ordered an end to U.S. support for the Saudi-led bombing campaign in Yemen and said he would stop the sale of offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia but has given few details of his plans.

Though the Biden administration’s relationship with Riyadh is likely to be more adversarial than that of Donald Trump’s, the reality is that Riyadh’s oil reserves and status as a counterbalance to Iran in the Middle East have long made it a strategic — if difficult — ally.

The broad outlines of the killing have long been known. The document released Friday says a 15-member Saudi team, including seven members of the prince’s elite personal protective team, arrived in Istanbul, though it says it’s unclear how far in advance Saudi officials had decided to harm him.

Khashoggi had gone to the Saudi consulate to pick up documents needed for his wedding. Once inside, he died at the hands of more than a dozen Saudi security and intelligence officials and others who had assembled ahead of his arrival. Surveillance cameras had tracked his route and those of his alleged killers in Istanbul in the hours before his killing.

A Turkish bug planted at the consulate reportedly captured the sound of a forensic saw, operated by a Saudi colonel who was also a forensics expert, dismembering Khashoggi’s body within an hour of his entering the building. The whereabouts of his remains remain unknown.

Full Coverage: Saudi Arabia

The prince, an ambitious 35-year-old who has rapidly consolidated power since his father became king in 2015, said in 2019 that he took “full responsibility” for the killing since it happened on his watch, but denied ordering it. Saudi officials have said Khashoggi’s killing was the work of rogue Saudi security and intelligence officials. Saudi Arabian courts last year announced they had sentenced eight Saudi nationals to prison in Khashoggi’s killing. They were not identified.

___

Madhani reported from Chicago. Associated Press writers Matthew Lee and Ben Fox in Washington and Ellen Knickmeyer in Oklahoma City contributed to this report.

Mohammed Bello Abubakar[1] wed 130 wives, died , leaving behind more than 200 children.

 Mohammed Bello Abubakar[1] (28 January 1924 – 28 January 2017) wed 130 wives died on Saturday, leaving behind more than 200 children.

A Muslim cleric, 93, who wed 130 wives died on Saturday, leaving behind more than 200 children.

Muhammadu Bello Abubahkar Masaba Bida also known as Mohammed Bello Abubakar[1] (28 January 1924 – 28 January 2017) was born in Nigeria. Masaba is known for having stirred up controversy in his hometown Bida, Niger State due to his extensive polygamy, and for being outspoken, he was uncharged under Sharia law and sent to prison in 2008 for refusing to divorce 82 of his wives.[1] Islam limits the number of wives a Muslim man can have to four, mandating they must be all treated equally.[2] He married 120 wives, divorced 10, and fathered 203 children. At the time of his death in 2017, some of his wives were believed to be pregnant.[3]

Masaba was as a teacher and Imam. He lived in an entire apartment block with his family. Masaba claimed that he never pursued his wives, and that he was sought by them due to his reputation as a healer. Most of his wives were younger than 30 years of age, and a few younger than his elder children. In interviews with Al Jazeera English, his wives claimed that he was a good husband and father.

Interpretation of the Quran

The Quran states that a man may marry up to four wives mandating they must be all treated equally. Masaba claimed that when the Quran set a law, it must also set a punishment for offenders, and no punishment was given for this offense.[4]

During a prison interview Masaba told The Christian Science Monitor:

"If God permits me, I will marry more than 86 wives. A normal human being could not marry 86 – but I can only by the grace of God, I married 86 women and there is peace in the house – if there is peace, how can this be wrong?"[1]

Interrogations and trials

After the death pronouncement on him by the Islamic group, Jama'atu Nasril Islam (JNI), the Bida Emirate Council and an assembly of Islamic leaders invited Masaba for interrogation. Deliberations were given in Etsu Nupe's palace Bida and the Etsu Nupe of Bida, Alhaji Yahya Abubakar read out a verdict saying that Masaba should divorce 82 of the 86 wives within 48 hours or leave the entire Nupe Kingdom as his safety could not be guaranteed within the kingdom. At the expiration of the ultimatum, Masaba refused to divorce any of his wives and denied ever promising this.[5][6]

In 2008 Bello was arrested by Islamic authorities and tried before a Sharia court.[2] Before his trial at the Sharia court, Police in Niger State gave him a clean bill, as the state command declared that nothing incriminating was found in his house. The leader of the police team, that arrested the Islamic cleric in Bida before 27 September 2008, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Mr John Olayemi declared:

"We found nothing incriminating in his house. There was no knife, no pistol or skull in his house when we went to invite him to the headquarters for a chat."[7]

Olayemi explained that the command of arresting Masaba acted on an instrument of Upper Sharia Court.[7]

Life in prison

In October 6, 2008, while in detention in Minna Prison, an Upper Sharia Court Judge in Minna, Alhaji Abdulmalik Imam, transferred Masaba's case to a Chief Magistrate's Court in Minna after admitting lacking jurisdiction. Masaba was still remanded in prison custody at the instance of the Sharia Court.[8][9][10]

Thousands of protestors gathered to protest against his actions, and claimed that if he were released, they would not allow him to return to his home. His wives announced their outrage at his arrest. Due to his persistent refusal to divorce 82 of his wives during his trial,[11][12] he was sentenced to death. The sentence was lifted in early September 2008.[4][13][14] Masaba still faced eviction from his home. The case was reported globally and throughout Nigeria, angering many Nigerian Muslims.

Following the case, Masaba told the BBC:

"A man with ten wives would collapse and die, but my own power is given by Allah. That is why I have been able to control 86 of them," [13]

Release

On 12 November 2008, a Federal High Court sitting in Maitama, Abuja ordered the release of Masaba from detention in Minna Prison with immediate effect. The trial high court judge, Justice G.O. Kolawole attached no condition to his release. The judge also ordered the Inspector General of Police, Mr Mike Okiro, to ensure the protection of Masaba's fundamental rights to life, liberty and privacy, as enshrined in the 1999 constitution of Nigeria, through the Niger State Commissioner of Police. Masaba returned to his hometown, Bida, on 13 November 2008.[15][16][17]

In July 2011,'Dr. Muazu Babangida Aliyu, the governor of Niger State said "though we have Sharia in place in the state, but we have no law to pin him down".[18] Niger State government's effort to prosecute Masaba, were unsuccessful because of legal lacuna. The Speaker of Niger State House of Assembly, Barrister Adamu Usman, disclosed that various attempts to prosecute Masaba ran into hitches because there was no provision in the law of the state to effect his prosecution.[19]

Barrister Adamu Usman said:

"As Attorney General then I personally appeared before Sharia court, Minna, as prosecutor to prosecute the man but later discovered that Sharia courts in Niger State cannot deal with the case. No provision made in Penal code C.P.C or Sharia administration of Justice law to deal with such cases."[19]

Appearance on media

Masaba is frequently depicted by the media as "the man with 86 wives." Contrary to some media reports, that Masaba divorced 82 out of his 86 wives, he refused to divorce any of his wives.[5][6][20][21]

Recently Masaba has reappeared in articles concerning an alleged plot to disenfranchise his family. Members of his family were prevented by thugs from registering to vote.[22] Nine members of the Masaba family were injured by thugs whenever they attempted to register to vote.[23][24]

After a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja ordered the release of Masaba from detention, he had 18 more children, having a total of 138 .[25] Masaba came into limelight with another super polygamist, Ziona Chana of India in 2011. As of May 2011, Masaba had 89 wives and 133 children while India's Ziona Chana had 39 wives, 94 children and 33 grandchildren.[26]

In June 2012, Masaba had an interview with Jide Orintunsin where he debunked his rumoured death and said:

"Large number of wives? I only have 97 wives. I am still going to marry more. I will keep marrying them for as long I am alive. Whoever is fighting me because of my wives or love life. Such an individual has missed it. Left for me, I would have married maybe two wives, but what I am doing is divine. It is an assignment and I will keep marrying till the end of time. I just want to advise those fighting against the number of my wives to stop because such people are waging war against God, their creator."[2

A Muslim cleric, 93, who wed 130 wives died on Saturday, leaving behind more than 200 children.

Mohammed Bello Abubakar died from an unknown illness in Niger State and large crowds turned out for his funeral on Sunday.

It is believed that some of his wives are pregnant.

Mohammed Bello Abubakar, who had 130 wives and fathered 203 children, has died aged 93 +4

Mohammed Bello Abubakar, who had 130 wives and fathered 203 children, has died aged 93 

According to the serial polygamist's personal assistant, the cleric had a premonition of death before he passed. 

In 2008 he faced criticism from other Muslim preachers who demanded that he must divorce 82 of his 86 wives within 48 hours. 

But Mr Bello said that it was his 'divine' mission to keep marrying.  

He was brought into the public eye in 2008 when Muslim clerics ordered him to divorce 82 of his 86 wives within 48 hours. Pictured, third wife Hajiah Hasfat Bello defended her husband +4

He was brought into the public eye in 2008 when Muslim clerics ordered him to divorce 82 of his 86 wives within 48 hours. Pictured, third wife Hajiah Hasfat Bello defended her husband

He tied the knot 130 times, although 10 of his marriages ended in divorce. 

He told the BBC in 2008 that he had a god-given ability to control his many wives.

One of his wives said she could not reject his proposal because it was a command from God, according to the BBC. 

At the time of his arrest, he was described by his family as a good husband and father. 

But he urged others not to follow in his footsteps, as he is only able to cope with having nearly 100 wives because of the divine mission he has been given. 

Read more:

130 மனைவிகள், 203 குழந்தைகள் எனப் பெருவாழ்வு வாழ்ந்த முஸ்லீம் மதபோதகர் மரணித்தார்!

முகமது பெல்லோ அபுபக்கர், கடந்த சனிக்கிழமை அன்று நைஜீரிய நகரமான பிடாவில் தனது 93 வது வயதில் காரணம் குறிப்பிட முடியாத உடல் நலிவால் மரணம் அடைந்தார் என அவரது சீடரும், உதவியாளருமான முதாயிர் ஷலா உத்தீன் நைஜீரிய செய்தி நிறுவனங்களுக்கு தகவல் தெரிவித்துள்ளார். குரானில் சொல்லப்பட்ட விசயங்களுக்கு தனது தனிப்பட்ட வாழ்வின் மூலம் அசாதாரண விளக்கங்கள் அளிப்பது, 100 க்கும் மேற்பட்ட பெண்களை மணந்து கொண்டால் தான் ஒரு ஆண் தனது வாழ்வில் அனைத்து செளகரியங்களையும் அடைய முடியும் என்று கூறி கிட்டத்தட்ட 130 பெண்களை திருமணம் செய்து கொள்வது, என இவர் முன்பே இந்திய ஊடகங்களிலும் பிரபலமானவர் தான்.

2008 ஆம் வருடம் உலகின் பிற நாடுகளில் இருந்த முஸ்லிம் மத போதகர்கள் சிலர் அபுபக்கரின் விந்தை திருமணங்களுக்கு கடும் ஆட்சேபம் தெரிவித்தனர். அவர் உடனடியாக தனது 86 மனைவிகளில் 82 பேரை விவாகரத்து செய்து விட்டு 4 மனைவிகளோடு மட்டும் வாழ வேண்டும் என பிற மத போதகர்கள் நிர்பந்தித்தனர். ஆனால் அபுபக்கர் அவர்களது நிபந்தனைகளுக்கு உட்பட மறுத்து விட்டதோடு தனது திருமணங்கள் அனைத்துமே தனது வாழ்நாளில் தன்னால் செய்ய முடிந்த ‘தெய்வீகப் பணிகள்’ என்று கூறி பிறரது விமர்சனங்களைப் புறம் தள்ளினார். தற்போது தனது 93 வயதில் அபுபக்கர் இயற்கை மரணம் அடைந்த நிலையில் அவருக்கு 130 மனைவிகள் மூலமாக 203 குழந்தைகள் இருப்பதாகவும், மனைவிகளில் சிலர் கர்ப்பிணிகளாக இருக்கவும் வாய்ப்பிருப்பதாகவும் நைஜீரிய ஊடகங்கள் செய்தி வெளியிட்டுள்ளன.

7Tamil Selvan, Saravana Balan and 5 others