US House Intelligence Chief Urges DNI To Declassify Report On Khashoggi's Death

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 22nd January, 2021) US House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff on Friday called on the new Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Avril Haines to declassify a report regarding Saudi Arabia's alleged culpability for journalist Jamal Khashoggi's killing.

The columnist for the Washington Post went missing in 2018 after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. The kingdom initially denied any knowledge of Khashoggi's whereabouts but eventually admitted that he was killed and dismembered inside the mission.

"The importance of speaking the truth and confronting the powerful over their misconduct is at the heart of bipartisan concerns over the year-long delay in ODNI's production of an unclassified report to Congress regarding Saudi Arabia's culpability for the brutal, premeditated murder of Washington Post journalist and US resident Jamal Khashoggi," Schiff wrote to Haines.

Schiff criticized former President Donald Trump's administration for refusing for a year to make the report public.

Saudi Arabia sentenced eight suspects for their role in Khashoggi's death and repeatedly denied allegations that any members of the royal family were involved.