Rishi Sunak 'invites Mohammad bin Salman to visit UK'

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman Photo: Balkis Press/ABACA/Shutterstock

Rishi Sunak invited Mohammad bin According to the report, Salman, The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, will visit the UK in autumn.

The Crown Prince, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, will visit the UK for the first time since the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi, who was killed and dismembered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

The Crown Prince the prince is accused of personally ordering the assassination, though he vehemently denies this and says it was carried out by rogue Saudi agents.

If the visit is confirmed, it would be a major diplomatic coup for the crown prince, reflecting his return to the Western diplomatic fold after becoming a global pariah in 2018 due to an assassination.

A UK official told The Financial Times that a visit to Riyadh had been proposed but no schedule had yet been drawn up. The Telegraph reached out to the government for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

The 37-year-old crown prince has spent years trying to rebuild his image following the 2018 assassination of Khashoggi, a respected Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist.

p> Protesters demand justice for the killing of Khashoggi in 2018. Photo: JIM WATSON.

The UK visit will be his second most important diplomatic engagement with the West since the assassination, after hosting President Joe Biden in Riyadh. in July 2022

During this visit, Biden did not shake hands with the crown prince, but instead offered to «punch» despite having named the Saudi ruler during the 2019 US presidential race » outcast.

Mr Biden has faced an avalanche of criticism for meeting the Crown Prince from human rights activists — as will Prime Minister Rishi Sunak if the visit to the UK goes ahead.

Joe Biden faced an avalanche of criticism for his 2022 visit. Credit: Anadolu Agency

In addition to the allegations surrounding Khashoggi's murder, Saudi Arabia has faced scrutiny for an ongoing crackdown on dissidents in the Kingdom, which has shocked human rights groups.

In recent months, Saudi Arabia has also harassed critics of the Kingdom on social media, including Salma Al-Shehab, a student at the University of Leeds and a mother of two. She was sentenced to 34 years in prison for being active on Twitter, considered the longest sentence of its kind in Saudi Arabia.

In November, it became known that Saudi Arabia had executed 12 people in 10 days for drug-related crimes after a two-year hiatus. Most executions were carried out by beheading with a sword.

British Prime Minister Theresa May, Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman and Boris Johnson in 2018. Credit: Shutterstock

The move shows that the Kingdom is pushing ahead with a series of executions, despite the crown prince himself suggesting a reduction in the use of such punishments.

There are also concerns in Washington and London about Saudi ambivalence Arabia regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine, despite the fact that Riyadh has enjoyed the status of a pro-Western Middle Eastern ally for years.

At the same time, the Crown Prince sought to present himself to the world as a modernizer, announcing attractive metropolitan projects like Neom to attract tourism.

In 2018, he empowered Saudi women to lead a wider campaign to cut some of the Kingdom's most oppressive laws.