Saudi Crown Prince condemns Khashoggi's death

Saudi Arabia's crown prince Mohammad bin Salman publicly condemned journalist Jamal Khashoggi's death in an address on Wednesday at the Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh.

"The crime was really painful to all Saudis. And it is painful to every human in the world, heinous to every human in the world," the crown prince said while addressing a special plenary session of the "Davos in the Desert" conference.

He further mentioned, "Today, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is carrying out all due legal processes to find out the truth and bring the perpetrators to justice."

This is the first time that the crown prince has broken his silence to speak on a public platform post the confirmation of Khashoggi's death.

Highlighting that "no obstacle is too great for Saudi Arabia," he further said, "We live among a great people. Once they have set a goal, the Saudi people will achieve it - no obstacle is too great. All giga projects are ongoing. Our war on religious extremism is ongoing. Our war on terror is ongoing."

The crown prince spoke as part of a panel that also consisted of Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the crown prince of Bahrain and Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad El-Din Rafik Al-Hariri.

The crown prince's comments come amidst US President Donald Trump terming Saudi Arabia's attempt to hide Khashoggi's killing as the "worst cover-up ever".

International calls for a fair and transparent investigation into the Saudi scribe's death are being led by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who completely rejected the Saudi explanation behind Khashoggi's death at the Turkish parliament on October 23.

Saudi Arabia previously confirmed Khashoggi's death inside its consular premises in Istanbul on October 2 due to a brawl, a claim that was strongly rejected by Erdogan who called it a "planned" killing. He further confirmed that 15 Saudi nationals had touched down in Istanbul before the incident.

Khashoggi had gone to the Saudi consulate to collect papers which would allow him to get married to his fiancee on the fated day, after which he was reported missing by his fiancee Hatice Cengiz, who was waiting outside the consulate for him to reemerge.