Canada Confirms Existence Of Saudi Journalist Murder Tape

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau confirmed that his government’s intelligence services heard an audio recording of the October 2 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Turkey repeatedly has claimed that such a tape not only exists but had been turned over to Western countries, including the United States, Britain, France and Germany; however, Ottawa is the first to provide external confirmation of this. After weeks of denials, the House of Saud admitted that Khashoggi—a prominent critic of the royal family who was living in self-imposed exile—was killed by a team of agents, and has since arrested 18 people in connection with the plot. Canada’s relations with Saudi Arabia have been rocky due to the former’s criticism of latter’s human rights record, which recently prompted Riyadh to expel the Canadian ambassador and downgrade bilateral business ties. The Khashoggi affair has placed Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, who has painted himself as a reformer, under an intense international spotlight given his simultaneous crackdown on internal dissent and oversight of external military activities aimed at curbing Iran’s regional influence.