Germany should not approve arms sales to Saudi Arabia until investigations into the circumstances of journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s death have been completed, Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Saturday.
In an interview with German public television’s Tagesthemen program, Maas said there was no reason to approve sales while it was still unclear what had happened to Khashoggi, in an apparent reversal of last month’s decision to authorize the sale of artillery systems to Riyadh.
“So long as investigations are underway, so long as we don’t know what happened there, there is no reason to take positive decisions on arms exports to Saudi Arabia,” he said.
Meanwhile, Chancellor Angela Merkel condemned Khashoggi's murder in Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul and said explanations so far given of the circumstances of his death were inadequate.
“We condemn this act in the strongest terms,” she and Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said in a joint statement issued on Saturday. “We expect transparency from Saudi Arabia about the circumstances of his death ... The information available about events in the Istanbul consulate is inadequate.”
Expressing deep sympathy to Khashoggi’s friends and relatives, they said those responsible for his death must be held accountable.
