The fiancée of murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi says she has declined an invitation to the White House by US President Donald Trump accusing him of not being sincere about investigating the killing.
Hatice Cengiz told Turkish TV she thought the invitation was aimed at influencing public opinion in the US.
Khashoggi was murdered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul three weeks ago.
Riyadh denies the ruling royal family was involved and blames “rogue agents”.
Saudi Arabia initially denied all knowledge of the journalist’s fate.
In a New York Times column earlier this month, Ms Cengiz said that if Mr Trump made “a genuine contribution to the efforts to reveal what happened inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul that day, I will consider accepting his invitation”.
Mr Trump has said he is “not satisfied” with the Saudi account, but while he has floated the possibility of imposing sanctions he has also stressed the importance of the two countries’ ties.
The president also said it was “possible” Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman did not know about the killing.
Khashoggi had been an outspoken critic of the crown prince, the country’s de facto ruler.
How to react?
Most of Saudi Arabia’s western allies have expressed shock at the death and demanded a full explanation.
But there is disagreement over how to respond.
While Germany has suspended arms exports to the Gulf nation, France’s President Emmanuel Macron said it would be “pure demagoguery to say ‘we must stop arms sales'”.
The sale of weapons “has nothing to do with Mr Khashoggi. One shouldn’t mix everything up”, he said on Friday.
The European Parliament on Thursday passed a nonbinding resolution urging an EU-wide arms embargo on Saudi Arabia in response to the murder.
Russia however said the royal family should be believed and that “no-one should have any reasons not to believe them,” according Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
Source: BBC
