U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Sunday that he has met with Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister, Adel Al-Jubeir, and called for a “transparent investigation” into the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey, according to reports.
Mattis said he met Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir during a conference in Bahrain on Saturday and discussed the killing, Reuters reports. According to the AP, Mattis told reporters traveling with him that Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir “had no reservations at all” about the need for the kingdom to be transparent.
Saudi FM Adel Al-Jubeir.
“We discussed it. You know the same thing we talked about, the need for transparency, full and complete investigation…(There was) full agreement from foreign minister Jubeir, no reservations at all, he said we need to know what happened and it was very collaborative, in agreement,” Mattis said.
Saudi Arabia said it would try the killers of Khashoggi in the Kingdom and would not extradite them to Turkey.
“On the issue of extradition, the individuals are Saudi nationals. They’re detained in Saudi Arabia, and the investigation is in Saudi Arabia, and they will be prosecuted in Saudi Arabia,” he added.
“The issue, as I said, is being investigated. We will know the truth. We will hold those responsible accountable. And we will put in place mechanisms to ensure it doesn’t happen again.”
