Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia hasn't visited UK since murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi
Mohammed bin Salman, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, will not attend Queen Elizabeth’s funeral on Monday following criticism of his inclusion on the list of foreign guests.
The de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia has not visited Britain since the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018, which the CIA has said he authorised.
Saudi sources had said the Crown Prince would be in London this weekend, but the Reuters news agency reported that Prince Turki al-Faisal would now be attending the funeral instead.
Human rights groups and friends of Mr Khashoggi are planning a “Criminals Not Welcome” protest in central London on Monday afternoon, and have called for “MBS” to be banned from the UK.
While world leaders will be expected to set aside their differences out of respect for the occasion, Buckingham Palace has found it impossible to avoid controversy altogether.
Britain has full diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia, as well as important security and trade links, making its ruler an automatic invitee.
However Bin Salman has been viewed as a pariah in the West ever since Mr Khashoggi was murdered and dismembered by agents of the Saudi state in its embassy in Istanbul, and the country has also been condemned for the brutality of its war on Yemen.
Human rights campaigners claimed that inviting Saudi leaders to the funeral amounted to whitewashing the country’s human rights record.
There has also been controversy around the decision to invite China’s President Xi Jinping to the funeral because of his country’s treatment of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang province.
China has confirmed that it is sending its Vice-President, Wang Qishan, to the funeral to represent Mr Xi.
Russia, Belarus, Myanmar, Syria, North Korea and Venezuela are among the countries whose leaders have not been invited to attend the funeral.
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