Sources told the newspaper that the operatives of Riyadh were trained in America under a contract approved by the State Department. The NYT noted that the authorities and the training company probably did not know about the role of the Saudis in the repression
The four Saudis involved in the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 received special training in the United States, The New York Times reports, citing sources and documents.The newspaper writes that the training of the Saudis took place during a large-scale campaign of the Saudi authorities to “suppress dissent”. In particular, it refers to the detentions and tortures that were authorized by the Crown Prince of the country, Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud.
The training of the special group from Saudi Arabia was conducted by the security agency Tier 1 Group from Arkansas, owned by the private investment company Cerberus Capital Management. The training was conducted under a contract approved by the US State Department. Tier 1 Group began training Saudis in 2014 during the presidency of Barack Obama and continued to train Riyadh operatives until at least the end of 2017.
The agency said that the training of the Saudis was defensive in nature to “better protect Saudi leaders”. According to the NYT source, it included fire training, counter-attacks, close combat and surveillance.
The publication notes the lack of evidence that American officials who approved the training, as well as the Tier 1 Group, knew that they were training individuals involved in the repression in Saudi Arabia. However, the State Department’s approval of the training contract proves Washington’s close relationship with the autocracy of Riyadh and demonstrates the “danger of military partnership with repressive governments”, as well as the low level of control over such cooperation.
According to documents sent to Congress, four operatives involved in Khashoggi’s murder underwent group training in the United States in 2017, two of them were trained in America in 2014-2015.
Cerberus Capital Management reported that the training of the Saudis is not directly related to the murder of Khashoggi. Louis Bremer, senior executive director of the parent company, stressed that the State Department is responsible for checking all foreigners undergoing military training in the United States.
Khashoggi, who has criticized Riyadh’s policies, has lived in the United States since 2017 and worked for The Washington Post. The journalist was killed in October 2018 in the building of the Consulate General of Saudi Arabia in Istanbul. The Saudi authorities claimed that this happened during the conflict in the diplomatic mission. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan then said that Riyadh ordered the journalist to be killed.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud admitted responsibility for Khashoggi’s murder. However, he stressed that the officials who gave the order to kill the journalist acted without his knowledge. In Saudi Arabia, five people were sentenced to death in the case of the murder of Khashoggi, and 11 others received prison sentences.
Washington has imposed sanctions on 76 citizens of Saudi Arabia, who, according to the United States, are involved in the murder of a journalist. In February, US intelligence released a report claiming that the operation to kidnap and kill Khashoggi was approved directly by the Crown Prince. In Riyadh, this information was denied.