U.S. cites journalist murder as a rights abuse by Saudi Arabia

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration used an annual report on human rights abuses around the world to call out ally Saudi Arabia on Wednesday over the killing of U.S.-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

The State Department report says The Washington Post columnist was killed by agents of the kingdom while he was inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. The report notes Saudi Arabia’s Public Prosecutor’s Office has indicted 11 suspects and said 10 people were under investigation but has not released more information.

“At year’s end the PPO had not named the suspects nor the roles allegedly played by them in the killing, nor had they provided a detailed explanation of the direction and progress of the investigation,” it said.

The report says a range of human rights abuses have taken place in Saudi Arabia, including the arrest of at least 20 prominent women’s rights activists, executions for nonviolent offenses, forced disappearances and torture of prisoners. It also notes some gains in the monarchy, including that women were allowed to vote and run as candidates in municipal elections for the first time.

Khashoggi had been living in Virginia in self-imposed exile as he wrote columns critical of the Saudi government under de facto leader Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

His killing in October caused tensions to soar between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, with members of Congress saying they believed the crown prince was behind the operation, an allegation the Saudi government has denied. President Donald Trump has been reluctant to place blame on a country that is central to his Middle East policy strategy.

The annual human rights report notes abuses in a number of familiar adversaries, including Cuba, Iran, North Korea and Russia.

The report for Turkey says the NATO ally arbitrarily arrested tens of thousands of lawmakers, lawyers and journalists for alleged terrorism ties or legitimate speech and did not look thoroughly into abuse allegations.

“The government continued to take limited steps to investigate, prosecute, and punish members of the security forces and other officials accused of human rights abuses; impunity for such abuses remained a problem,” the report said.