MBS Sidelined In G20 Summit Family Photo

Local Editor

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was sidelined during the official “family photo” of world leaders and other dignitaries at the two-day G20 summit in the Argentinean capital Buenos Aires.

On Friday, the 33-year-old de facto ruler of the Arab kingdom only managed to secure a place at the far edge of the group portrait and failed to garner any attention among the leaders in the family photo on the first day of the 13th summit of the forum.

After the shot, he quickly left the stage without shaking hands or talking with other leaders.

MBS’ political future is still being haunted by the consequences of the gruesome murder of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul some two months ago.

Khashoggi, 59, a one-time royal insider who had been critical of Mohammed bin Salman recently, was killed after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2.

For weeks, Riyadh denied any involvement in the journo’s disappearance but under growing pressure from international community eventually acknowledged that was killed and dismembered in a premeditated murder. 

However, the Saudi regime has sought to distance the heir to the Saudi throne from the assassination despite the emerging evidence alleging otherwise. A recent report by the US Central Intelligence Agency [CIA] said that it had concluded that bin Salman had been behind the gruesome crime.

The killing of Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist, strained Riyadh’s relations with the West and battered bin Salman’s image abroad. Saudi Arabia claims that the prince had no prior knowledge of the murder.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team