Jamal Khashoggi death: Saudi crown prince breaks silence on 'painful' case of killed journalist
Kingdom insists death of writer was an accident and attempts to distance crown prince from murder
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Your support makes all the difference.Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has promised that the killers of Jamal Khashoggi would be brought to justice, in his first public comments since the journalist's death sparked international condemnation.
Prince Mohammed told a major investment conference in Riyadh that Saudi Arabia and Turkey would work together "to reach results" on a joint investigation into the killing.
"The incident that happened is very painful, for all Saudis... The incident is not justifiable," the crown prince said on a discussion panel. "Justice in the end will appear."
He described cooperation between Riyadh and Ankara as "special" despite fierce criticism from Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and his aides.
On Tuesday, hackers hijacked the summit’s website and posted an image of the royal about to behead Khashoggi on its homepage.
Read the updates from Wednesday, as they happened
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Saudi Arabia has said it will not penalise foreign banks who boycotted its investment conference amid the fallout from the killing of Khashoggi.
The governor of the kingdom's central bank said the institutions which pulled out of the conference, dubbed "Davos in the Desert", will still be able to apply for and obtain banking licenses to operate in the kingdom.
"We, at the central bank, deal in complete professional manner whether with local or international banks," Ahmed al-Kholifey told Al Arabiya TV when asked if the banks that decided not to participate in the event will be penalised.
On Tuesday, the website for Saudi Arabia's investment conference, dubbed "Davos in the Desert", was hacked and a picture of Khashoggi about to be beheaded by the kingdom's crown prince was placed on its homepage.
Spain's prime minister has said his government will fulfill past arms sales contracts with Saudi Arabia despite his "dismay" over the "terrible murder" of Khashoggi.
Pedro Sanchez told MPs that protecting jobs in southern Spain was also central to his decision last month to go ahead with a controversial shipment of bombs to Saudi Arabia.
Spain has said the $2.1bn (£1.6bn) purchase by Saudi Arabia for five navy ships was put at risk when the government pondered canceling the shipment of 400 precision bombs purchased by Riyadh in 2015.
Mr Sanchez hasn't clarified what his plans are regarding future purchases by the kingdom, a long-time commercial ally.
The prime minister said his government will also make a proposal to make Spain a "pioneer" in verification and transparency on arms exports.
Saudi Arabia's claim Khashoggi died in a fight "does not amount to a credible explanation", Theresa May has said.
The prime minister said she will speak to Saudi Arabia's King Salman later on Wednesday.
She said the home secretary would take action against all suspects to prevent them from entering the UK by revoking their visas.
"We condemn the killing of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the strongest possible terms and after his disappearance we made clear that Saudi Arabia must co-operate with Turkey and conduct a full and credible investigation," Ms May said at Prime Minister's Questions.
"The claim that has been made that Mr Khashoggi died in a fight does not amount to a credible explanation so there does remain an urgent need to establish what has happened in relation to this."
The German government is conducting intensive discussions on how to deal with arms exports to Saudi Arabia that have already been approved but not yet delivered, government spokesman Steffen Seibert said.
On Monday, Angela Merkel vowed to halt all German arms exports to Saudi Arabia until Khashoggi's killing had been cleared up.
Asked whether this included arms exports that had already been approved but not yet delivered, Mr Seibert told reporters: "Regarding the question of how to deal with permits already granted, or goods that have not yet been delivered, there are intensive discussions in the government on this at the moment, and we will have to examine this very carefully."
Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia's crown prince, faces mounting pressure over his claim that Khashoggi was killed by rogue agents in a "fist fight". On Wednesday he will give his first speech since the killing at an investment summit in Riyadh dubbed "Davos in the Desert".
"The UK Government condemns in the strongest possible terms the killing of Jamal Khashoggi and has serious concerns around the explanation given by the Saudi authorities," Sajid Javid, the home secretary, has said.
"With this in mind, I have decided to take action against those implicated in his death to prevent them from entering the UK.
"We will always be thoughtful and considered in our response, but if the appalling stories are true, they are fundamentally incompatible with our values."
Theresa May said the UK government will revoke visas of suspects related to the murder of Khashoggi "today".
Australia has said a ban on arms sales to Saudi Arabia is one of the options it is considering.
Australian officials said they were no longer prioritising a defense industry agreement with Saudi Arabia.
The country's foreign affairs minister, Marise Payne, was asked in Parliament whether Australia would follow the lead of other countries and suspend arms sales to Saudi Arabia, and responded by saying "all options are on the table."
She added: "We absolutely recognize this is an extremely serious situation of the highest order of magnitude."
Australia also responded to the killing by boycotting an investment conference created by Saudi Arabia's crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman.
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