Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
Tunisian activists are calling for protests over the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi when Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman visits next week.
The crown prince on Thursday began a tour of several Arab countries in the United Arab Emirates, his first trip abroad since the murder, which has strained Saudi Arabia's ties with the West and battered his image abroad.
While Tunisia's presidency said on Friday he was welcome, activists have called for protests in front of the presidential palace in Carthage during Prince Mohammed's trip on Tuesday and are trying to mount a legal challenge to stop the visit.
Since the 2011 uprising that ended the rule of former president Zine el-Abidine ben Ali and triggered the Arab Spring protests that convulsed the region, Tunisia has become one of the few Arab countries where protests are allowed.
"The blood of Khashoggi has not dried yet, the murderer bin Salman is not welcome in Tunisia, the country of democratic transition," Neji Bghouri, the president of the journalists' syndicate, said.
A group of 50 lawyers has been tasked by journalists, bloggers and human right activists to lodge a complaint in the Tunisian courts to oppose the visit, lawyer Nizar Boujlel said.
Saudi Arabia has said the crown prince had no prior knowledge of the killing of the Washington Post columnist at Riyadh's consulate in Istanbul last month.
After offering numerous contradictory explanations, Riyadh said last week Khashoggi had been killed and his body dismembered when negotiations to persuade him to return to Saudi Arabia failed.
King Salman asked his chosen heir, known in the West as MbS, to conduct the tour "based on his keenness to deepen the kingdom's ties regionally and internationally", the Saudi Press Agency reported.
Nourredine Ben Ticha, adviser to Tunisia's President Beji Caid Essebsi, said: "Bin Salman will visit Tunisia on Nov. 27. He is welcome in Tunisia, like the rest of the Arab brothers. Saudi Arabia has an important role in the Arab region."
He said Tunisia had asked for the truth about the killing and the punishment of those involved, but said the situation should not be exploited "to harm the stability of a brotherly country like Saudi Arabia".
The top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee on Friday criticized U.S. President Donald Trump for his dismissal of the CIA’s assessment that the Saudi crown prince ordered the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island responded to remarks by Trump on Thursday that the CIA "did not come to a conclusion" about Mohammed bin Salman's involvement in the murder.Speaking to reporters at his Florida resort, taking a break from the Thanksgiving holiday, Trump said the CIA had "feelings certain ways".Reed told CNN the CIA concluded the crown prince was "directly" involved in the assassination of Khashoggi. "They did it, as has been reported to the press, with high confidence, which is the highest level of accuracy that they will vouch for," said Reed.Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist and columnist for The Washington Post, went missing after entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2.After initially saying he had left the consulate alive, weeks later the Saudi administration admitted he was killed there, blaming a rogue group of Saudi operatives."It's based on facts, it's based on analysis. The notion that they didn't reach a conclusion is just unsubstantiated. The CIA has made that clear," said Reed.In his Tuesday statement, Trump defended relations with Saudi Arabia despite the killing and said the U.S. may "never know all of the facts" and the country will continue its relations with Saudi Arabia to pursue American interests.Prominent senators including Republican Bob Corker and Democratic Bob Menendez, lashed out at Trump for his statement, saying they disagree with his decision not to punish Saudi Arabia.
US senator criticizes Trump on CIA Khashoggi remarks
While Jamal Khashoggi was a complex man, to his daughters, he was simply known as "Dad".In an opinion piece published Friday in The Washington Post, Noha Khashoggi and Razan Jamal Khashoggi shared memories of their father.For the sisters, life growing up included visits to countless museums and historical sites, reflecting their parents’ love of knowledge. They also recalled staying up nights wondering what their father was doing on one of his many trips abroad, “trusting that no matter how long he was gone, we would see him again, wide-armed, waiting for a hug”.“As bittersweet as it was, we knew from a young age that Dad’s work meant that his reach extended far beyond our family, that he was an important man whose words had an effect on people over a great distance.”Noha and Razan also wrote about the pride they had in their father's work and said they "understood the awe and grandeur with which some people viewed him"."Dad certainly had a pragmatic side, but in his dreams and ambitions, he was always striving for a utopian version of reality," they said.Trump dismisses CIA Khashoggi conclusion as 'feelings'Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist and columnist for The Post, went missing after entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2.With the world watching, the Saudi administration initially said he had left the consulate alive until admitting weeks later that he was killed there.The two sisters recounted the days after their father was first reported missing and how the family had visited his home in Virginia."The hardest part was seeing his empty chair. His absence was deafening. We could see him sitting there, glasses on his forehead, reading or typing away.""This is no eulogy, for that would confer a state of closure. Rather, this is a promise that his light will never fade, that his legacy will be preserved within us," they wrote."We feel blessed to have been raised with his moral compass, his respect for knowledge and truth, and his love."Until we meet again in the next life."Khashoggi case: France slaps travel ban on 18 SaudisBin Salman on 1st foreign tour since Khashoggi killing
Khashoggi's daughters vow to keep his legacy alive