Abu dhabi: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman said he’s ready to allow Turkey to search the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul for a Saudi journalist critical of his rule who went missing after entering the building.
“The premises are sovereign territory, but we will allow them to enter and search and do whatever they want to do,” Prince Mohammed said in an interview on Wednesday at a royal palace in Riyadh. “We have nothing to hide.”
Jamal Khashoggi, who’s been living in self-imposed exile for the past year, has been missing since Tuesday. His fiancee and friends say they fear he’s been detained or kidnapped for his criticism of the government. The prince, however, said Khashoggi left the building not long after he entered.
He said the arrests of clerics, women activists and some businessmen over the past year were a small price to pay for peacefully eradicating extremism in the world’s top oil exporter.
The prince said authorities have detained about 1,500 people over the past three years on national security grounds. The number, he said, pales in comparison with Turkey, where President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has locked up tens of thousands since a failed coup against him in 2016.
“I am the crown prince of Saudi Arabia and I am trying to do the best that I can do through my position.”
The crown prince said he wasn’t concerned about his image overseas.
“I don’t care how the world views me as much as I care about what’s in the interest of the country and the Saudi people,” he said. “Whatever serves the Saudi people and Saudi Arabia as a country, I will do it with full force.”
Movements for change around the world have come “with a price,” the prince said. Ending slavery in the US, for instance, was only possible after a civil war, he added.
“Here we are trying to get rid of extremism and terrorism without civil war, without stopping the country from growing,” he said. “So if there is a small price in that area, it’s better than paying a big debt to do that move.”
The prince said some of those held gave information to intelligence agencies connected to regional foes Qatar and Iran, and said the government had evidence including videos and recorded calls. He also said his actions have overwhelming support among Saudis.
Asked in the interview whether the journalist faces charges in Saudi Arabia, Prince Mohammed said it was first important to discover where Khashoggi was.
“If he’s in Saudi Arabia, I would know that,” he said.
— Bloomberg
