Simon Henderson is the Baker Senior Fellow and director of the Bernstein Program on Gulf and Energy Policy at The Washington Institute, specializing in energy matters and the conservative Arab states of the Persian Gulf.
Articles & Testimony
The challenge for the kingdom’s Western allies is how to square Riyadh’s announcement with the CIA and UN conclusion that the crown prince himself sanctioned the crime.
The legal part of the murder of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi is coming to an end. The public relations phase, which already has started, will now go into high gear—and today’s announcement by the Saudi prosecutor is not likely to be the final word. Five members of the hit team accused of killing Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, last October have been sentenced to death, and three others will go to prison for a total of 24 years. But the court’s decision is not yet final. And, of course, King Salman can always show mercy and commute the sentences...