“Definitely buried, the emotion that had aroused the assassination, four years ago, of the journalist and opponent Jamal Khashoggi! By the wayside, the consternation aroused by the tyrannical methods of the Saudi prince that this murder revealed”exclaims Time.
Just as bitter, Politico notes that Emmanuel Macron invites the heir to the Saudi kingdom to the Elysée a few days after having allowed himself to “lecturing African leaders” and treat them« d’hypocrites » for refusing to “choosing a side in the war in Ukraine”.
MBS, whom US intelligence has publicly named as the sponsor of Khashoggi’s murder in 2018, has been back on the international scene for a few months, after three years of purgatory. “Last December, Emmanuel Macron had already crossed the Rubicon and traveled to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, ending the relative diplomatic isolation that had hit Saudi Arabia”remember Time.
In recent months, the Crown Prince has notably met with former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and, just a few days ago, US President Joe Biden. His visit to the Élysée is the second and final leg of his first European tour since 2018, after a visit to Athens.
“Total discretion”
“These meetings at the highest level” with MBS “would have been hard to imagine not so long ago”observe the Washington Postemphasizing the “long handshake” between the two men at the Élysée.
“But the war in Ukraine changed the situation”finds The evening. “And the West, led by Europe, needs oil and gas to fill the embargo and the cuts. And therefore turns to the producing countries, which are far from being a club of great democrats”.
In fact, energy was officially the main subject of the “working dinner” between Emmanuel Macron and MBS, a reception of a “total discretion”in order to “limit as much as possible” the exhibition of the French president with the crown prince, specifies The country. Before dinner, neither of the two men spoke to the press in the Cour d’honneur of the Élysée, where “the red carpet usually reserved for foreign leaders”adds the Madrid daily.
Faced with the outcry caused by MBS’s visit to the opposition and to human rights defenders, Emmanuel Macron therefore preferred silence, leaving it to his services to ensure that human rights would be on the dinner menu, while Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne put on her firefighter’s clothes.
Assuring that France had no intention of “question” her commitment to human rights, she felt that “the French would not understand, in a context where we know that Russia is cutting, threatening to cut and recut the gas supply […] that we do not discuss with the countries which are precisely producers of energy “.
” It’s a shame ! »
This did not convince human rights defenders: three NGOs, including Democracy for the Arab World Now (Dawn), founded by Jamal Khashoggi, “filed a complaint Thursday in Paris against the prince for ‘complicity in torture’ and ‘enforced disappearance'”reports The Free Belgium.
According to these organizations, “not being a head of state, MBS enjoys no immunity from prosecution, and France is one of the only places where justice could be served”explains the BBC.
“Legal experts acknowledge that it is unlikely that MBS will be summoned while he is there, as it usually takes several weeks before an investigating judge is appointed”écrit The Guardian. “The complaint could however dissuade the crown prince from returning to France”judge the lawyers of the NGOs.
Another voice, even more powerful, rose to express its disgust at MBS’s visit to the Élysée: Hatice Cengiz, the Turkish fiancée of Jamal Khashoggi, declared herself on Thursday “scandalized and outraged that the executioner of [son] fiancé is received with great pomp at the Élysée. It’s a shame ! » And to add: “Jamal’s spirit will follow him everywhere, like a nightmare”.