U.S. intelligence agencies have replaced their long-awaited report on the murder of Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi with a different version that removed the names of three men they originally identified as accomplices.
The CNN news network reported Monday that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) changed the report a few hours after it was published Friday afternoon.
CNN added that the link to the report was deleted a few hours after its release and replaced with a new one. The second version of the intelligence report was missing the names of three men who had previously been listed as complicit in Khashoggi’s death. Why the men were initially on the list and what role they had played in Khashoggi’s murder was not explained by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI).
The three individuals removed from the list are Abdulla Mohammed Alhoeriny, Yasir Khalid Alsalem and Ibrahim al-Salim. While the last two individuals are unknown to CNN, Abdulla Mohammed Alhoeriny can be located within Saudi Arabia’s power structure. He is the brother of General Abdulaziz bin Mohammed al-Howraini, who heads several intelligence agencies in Saudi Arabia as a minister.
U.S. intelligence report: Saudi Arabia’s crown prince authorized killing of Jamal Khashoggi
CNN said the change went largely unnoticed amid outrage over Joe Biden’s administration’s failure to impose sanctions on Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman after the report confirmed he directly authorized the assassination.
The ODNI declined to clarify why the names were originally included in the list and what roles, if any, they had in the crime.
“We posted a revised document on the website because the original mistakenly included three names that should not have been included,” an ODNI spokesman reportedly told CNN.
The revised report concludes with a list of 18 names that U.S. intelligence agencies had “high confidence” were involved in the brutal murder.
The 18 individuals listed were sanctioned by the U.S. for their role in the murder.
Saudi Arabian dissident Jamal Khashoggi had entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2, 2018, to pick up papers to marry his Turkish fiancée. He had been missing since then. It was only after international pressure that the Saudi regime admitted Khashoggi was murdered.
Khashoggi’s fiancee said in a statement posted Monday on her official Twitter account, “It is important that the crown prince who ordered the brutal murder of a blameless and innocent person be punished immediately.”
by Basit Abbasi – CCTV
