US to punish Saudi over Khashoggi murder

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says his country will punish Saudi Arabia for the “heinous” murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, contrasting President Donald Trump’s statements that doing so would hurt American interests.

While Trump had suggested in the aftermath of the murder that there was too much at stake for Washington to go after Riyadh, Pompeo made it clear that Khashoggi’s murderers were not getting away with their deeds.

“We’ve taken a very clear message to the world with respect to the murder of Jamal Khashoggi,” the top US diplomat told CNBC on Monday. “This was a heinous act. It’s unacceptable. It’s inconsistent with the way nations ought to behave around the world.”

Weeks after Khashoggi, a US resident, went missing after entering the Saudi consulate in Turkey’s Istanbul on October 2, Riyadh admitted that he had been killed by security agents in a brawl.

Mounting evidence released by Turkish officials,…

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