A US documentary revealed that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman admitted last December that he was responsible for the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi because it happened while he was in power.
The premiere of the documentary "Front Line" shows that the Saudi crown prince told Martin Smith of the American public television network "This happened and I am in power. I take all the responsibility because it happened and I am in power."
The documentary, titled "Saudi Crown Prince", will be screened on October 1, ahead of the first anniversary of Khashoggi's death.
"We have 20 million people, and we have three million government employees," Smith asked Salman.
Asked if the killers had boarded private government planes, the crown prince replied: "I have officials and ministers to follow things up, they are responsible, they have the power to act."
Smith describes the dialogue, which took place last December during a race held in Riyadh, in the premiere of the documentary.
Prince Mohammad has never spoken publicly about Khashoggi's murder at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018, and the CIA and some Western governments have said he ordered his killing, but Saudi officials say he has no role in the murder.
Horrible crime
The crime has sparked a worldwide uproar, tarnished the crown prince's reputation and jeopardized plans to diversify the economy of the world's largest oil exporter and open up Saudi society.
The prince has not visited the United States or Europe since.
After initially denied statements, the Saudi official account blamed Khashoggi's killing for a group of workers she said acted spontaneously.
The prosecutor said the then deputy chief of the intelligence service had ordered Khashoggi's return to Saudi Arabia, but the head of his team ordered him to be killed after negotiations failed to return him.
He also reported that Saud al-Qahtani, a former senior adviser to the royal court, briefed the team in charge of bringing Khashoggi on his activities before the operation.
A senior administration official said the Trump administration was urging Saudi Arabia to make "significant progress" in holding those responsible to account.
Riyadh brought 11 defendants to trial in secret proceedings, but the court held only a few hearings.
In July, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights published a 101-page report by the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, Agnes Kalamar, in which Saudi Arabia was blamed for the deliberate killing of Khashoggi.
Kalamar confirmed that there was credible evidence requiring interrogation of senior Saudi officials, including Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.