Trump says Saudi crown prince has done ‘incredible’ job on human rights - yes, really

US president Donald Trump’s meeting with Saudi Arabia’s crown prince Mohammed bin Salman on Tuesday made headlines for a number of reasons – whether it was the Republican scolding journalists for doing their jobs or claiming that the crown prince has done an “incredible” job in terms of human rights.

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said of bin Salman: “I’m very proud of the job he’s done, and what he’s done is incredible in terms of human rights and everything else.”

Except the CIA concluded in 2018 that the crown prince ordered the assassination of the Wall Street Journal reporter Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul at the Saudi consulate – despite the crown prince’s repeat denials that he was involved in or had knowledge of the murder.

Khashoggi regularly criticised the crown prince and his regime in his WSJ column, and a US official The Washington Post at the time that “the accepted position is that there is no way this happened” without the royal “being aware or involved”.

More recently, the US Department of State’s 2024 report on human rights practices in Saudi Arabia cited “significant human rights issues” in the country.

These included “credible reports” of:

• arbitrary or unlawful killings;
• disappearances;
• torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment;
• arbitrary arrest and detention;
• transnational repression against individuals in another country;
• serious restrictions on freedom of expression and media freedom, including unjustified arrests or prosecutions of journalists and censorship;
• restrictions of religious freedom; and
• prohibiting independent trade unions or significant or systemic restrictions on workers’ freedom of association.

As such, people have since expressed disbelief that Trump would dish out such praise to the crown prince:

MeidasTouch editor-in-chief Ron Filipkowski tweeted sarcastically: “MBS famous throughout the world for his human rights record”:

Connecticut senator Chris Murphy simply commented: “Omg”:

And political commentator ‘JoJoFromJerz’ said Trump’s comments were “akin to praising Jeffrey Dahmer for his cooking”:

indy100 has approached both The White House and the Saudi Press Agency for comment.

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