Joe Biden's administration to 'declassify report' into Jamal Khashoggi's murder

The incoming US administration of President-elect Joe Biden will be declassifying an intelligence report into the gruesome murder of the Washington Post columnist, Jamal Khashoggi, reportedly. Avril Haines, who has been nominated to serve as the director of national intelligence, said ahead of the inauguration. Just months after slain journalist’s fiancee, Hatice Cengiz urged Biden to release CIA’s classified report on his killing as soon as he enters the White House, Haines said in a confirmation hearing on January 19 that if confirmed as the new DNI, she would have the opportunity to “immediately” turn the page on the “excessive secrecy” and “lawlessness” of the Trump administration.

She said that the US would be submitting an unclassified report on “who was responsible” for Khashoggi’s killing inside the Saudi consulate in Turkey in October 2018, as required under a February 2020 law that the outgoing Trump administration in effect had blocked. As per reports, when Haines was asked by the Oregon senator Ron Wyden if she would release the report, she replied, “Yes, senator, absolutely. We will follow the law.” In a statement, Wyden had even hailed the move and said it was refreshing to hear “straightforward commitment” to abide by the law.

"The DNI must prioritize transparency, accountability, analytic rigour, facilitating oversight and diverse thinking —- not as afterthoughts, but as strategic imperatives that bolster our work and our institutions," Haines had said.

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Jamal Khashoggi’s murder

However, Biden administration’s decision implies that the US is likely to officially assign blame for Khashoggi’s brutal murder to Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The 59-year-old was suffocated and dismembered inside the kingdom’s Istanbul consulate on October 2, 2018, after he went inside to get the required documents for his marriage to Turkish fiancee Hatice Cengiz.  This gruesome murder triggered a worldwide rage and stained the reputation of the oil-rich kingdom as well as its Crown Prince. 

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Meanwhile, calling on the American authorities to release the classified documents, his fiancee asserted that it would “greatly assist in uncovering the truth" about people responsible for his murder. Although official investigation reports have not been released as yet, media reports have alleged the role of Saudi Prince Mohammad Bin Salman in his killing.

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