Apparently, the Saudi Arabian embassy is somewhere people go to file paperwork for visits to/from the country, learn about Saudi culture, oh…and get murdered. As the evidence mounts, and Turkish officials claim that they have direct video/audio evidence of missing Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi’s apparent death, it’s becoming harder to dispel the claims against Saudi Arabia.
If the allegations are true, the Saudi Arabians have used legal loopholes in international diplomacy to kill a prominent Saudi journalist and critic. Khashoggi entered the Turkish Saudi embassy over a week ago to apply for a marriage license and hasn’t been seen since. Turkey claims that he was lured into the embassy and then killed by a 15-person hit-man squad sent from Saudi Arabia.
Allegedly, at least one member of the incoming Saudi team had a bone saw. Khashoggi was apparently dismembered and removed from the embassy piece by piece. Most importantly, Turkish officials claim that they actually have audio and video evidence of the attacks. They also claim to have taken samples from the local sewer suggesting that someone was killed.
If these allegations are found to be true, the response from the international community should be the obvious one: shut down every Saudi embassy around the world until the criminals and decision-makers are brought to justice. Again, if the allegations are true, the Saudis clearly can’t be trusted with the perks of diplomatic immunity.
Embassies exist as a sort of neutral ground for governments to communicate with one another. Despite the frequent rumors, embassies are not “sovereign soil” but they do enjoy similar perks. Embassies and many diplomatic staff members do enjoy wide-sweeping diplomatic immunity.
The idea behind this immunity isn’t to create a special class of people and property above the law. It’s to protect diplomatic staff and offices from arbitrary legal actions. Without diplomatic immunity, diplomatic staff might be subjected to unjustified searches and detentions, potentially disrupting diplomatic relations.
Yet Saudi Arabia has apparently violated diplomatic protocol by using their own consul to murder a critic. If true, it’s obvious that they can’t be trusted with the privilege of diplomatic immunity. They didn’t just bend the rules or even flaunt them. They straight-up tossed em out the window so they could murder someone—someone who resides in the U.S.
Unless the perpetrators and high-level officials who ordered this done are brought to justice, how can the world trust Saudi Arabian embassies and consulates? And if the world lets this slip by without major punishment, aren’t we just encouraging Saudi Arabia and other countries to commit more atrocious acts in the future?
The world needs to send a clear message, and the clearest message would be to shut down their global diplomatic apparatus. Not just in Washington, D.C. but everywhere. And if the Saudis want to rejoin the global community, they should be forced to hand over the perpetrators and decision-makers responsible. Abusing diplomatic protocol in such a fashion is beyond deplorable and should never be tolerated.
Some might argue that such a response would be too extreme, but can nations feel safe knowing that Saudi diplomatic compounds —or other nations’ consulates— can be turned into murder houses?
