The Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, widely suspected of ordering the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, is expected to attend the G20 summit in Buenos Aires at the end of the month, the Argentinian government has confirmed.
“The prince is on the list of attendees and so far we have no information saying he is not coming,” the presidential press adviser, Pablo Di Nanno, told the Guardian.
His presence will pose a dilemma for world leaders on whether to participate in meetings with him – and could throw preparations for the summit into crisis.
The CIA has reportedly determined that the prince ordered Khashoggi’s grisly execution in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, and other western intelligence agencies are said to share that assessment. However, Donald Trump claimed on Tuesday that the CIA had found “nothing definitive”.
Asked if he would meet the Saudi prince in Buenos Aires, Trump replied: “I don’t know that he’s going to be there, but if he is, I will.”
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Turkish president who has denounced Riyadh for the killing and hinted heavily at Prince Mohammed’s culpability, is expected to be among the attendees.
Istanbul’s chief prosecutor has said that Jamal Khashoggi was strangled on entering the consulate on 2 October and that his body was dismembered. In an account of a purported audio recording of the killing published in the Turkish press on Tuesday, Khashoggi can be heard saying: “Release my arm! What do you think you are doing?” One of his killers yells at him: “Traitor! You will be brought to account.”
According to the Habertürk newspaper, a quarrel can be heard, and “a physical fight and then beating and torture”. In a later conversation among the killers, one can be heard complaining about having to wear their victim’s clothes, in an attempt to lay a false trail for investigators following Khashoggi’s disappearance.
Prince Mohammed’s presence in Buenos Aires will put Trump’s position under even more scrutiny. He has continued to support the prince despite the mounting evidence of his responsibility for the killing and equivocated when asked about the CIA’s assessment.
Saudi Arabia, which is due to host the G20 in 2020, has sent lower-ranking officials to earlier summits. Jon Alterman, the director of the Middle East programme at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, said Prince Mohammed’s decision to attend was a deliberate challenge to the international community.
“This is a bold effort to force the issue of whether world leaders are willing to work with Saudi Arabia, saying if you are going to do that, you’re going to have to work with Mohammed bin Salman,” Alterman said. “This is certainly a risk for the crown prince. There is a sense of the Saudi side that they are demonstrating to the domestic population that the crown prince is back in the saddle.”
Alterman pointed out that Prince Mohammed could still change his mind. An outcry from other leaders attending and the threat of humiliating snubs in Buenos Aires could deter him from making the trip.
Di Nanno, the Argentinian presidential official, said: “Of course, this is subject to the prince’s agenda, which may change.”