PROTEST AGAINST SAUDI ARABIA

WORKER'S ROMANIA ASSOCIATION

2, CAMIL RESSU AVENUE, BLOCK R.1, SC.2, 4rt floor, apt. 55,

DISTRICT 3, BUCHAREST, ROMANIA

Your Royal Highness Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman,

Both in my name and on behalf of the “WORKER'S ROMANIA” Association I am writing to voice my concern about the enforced disappearance of Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who has not been seen since entering the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul on 2nd October.

I am calling on the Saudi Arabian authorities to immediately reveal his fate and whereabouts, as well as cooperate with the investigations by the Turkish authorities and any independent and impartial investigations that may be launched into his disappearance. Those responsible for Jamal Khashoggi’s enforced disappearance and any harm that may have befallen him must face justice – as must those who ordered any such act, irrespective of their rank or status.

Turkish media these days published images of an alleged intelligence team sent by  Saudi Arabia  to snatch dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi in an apparent attempt by Ankara to turn up pressure on  Riyadh  to reveal the fate of the missing Washington Post columnist.

The Turkish daily  Sabah  splashed the pictures of 15 men, which it called an assassination squad, providing also their names and years of birth. The men, pictured at passport control, reportedly flew to  Istanbul  on Oct. 2   the day Khashoggi disappeared into the Saudi Consulate in the city   and left later that day, using private jets. One of the men is said to be a senior Saudi forensic official. TV channels in Turkey   broadcast videos of what they said were the men arriving at the airport and checking into hotels, as well as footage of car traffic outside the consulate before and after Khashoggi disappearance, including a black van with blacked out windows that the police find suspicious.

International organizations have documented an intensified crackdown on freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly in Saudi Arabia since September last year, including the arrest and continued detention without charge of prominent women human rights defenders and dissidents.

For its part, the Turkish Government has told US offIcials that it has audio and video recordings that prove Washington Post columnist was killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul this month, according to US and Turkish officials.

The audio recording in particular provides some of the most persuasive and gruesome evidence that the Saudi team is responsible for Mr Khashoggi's death, the officials said. "The voice recording from inside the consular mission lays out what happened to Jamal after he entered," said one person with knowledge of the recording who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss highly sensitive intelligence."You can hear his voice and the voices of men speaking Arabic," this person said. "You can hear how he was interrogated, tortured and then murdered."

A second person briefed on the recording said men could be heard beating Mr Khashoggi.

If reports by the Turkish authorities on the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi are true, this would be a serious escalation in the Saudi Arabian authorities’ crackdown on peaceful dissent, which must stop immediately.

I am writing to urge you to provide credible answers on the fate and whereabouts of Jamal Khashoggi with a view to bringing clarity to Jamal Khashoggi’s family and aid the pursuit of justice.

Ciprian Pop

Secretary General of Worker's Romania Association

Bucharest,

16^th October 2018