Ahmed al-Assiri

Ahmed al-Assiri, former deputy head of Saudi intelligence, was identified by US authorities as having been assigned to the operation against Jamal Khashoggi and was sanctioned by the United States in 2021. Turkey prosecuted him alongside Saud al-Qahtani for the murder. In Saudi Arabia, Assiri was tried and then acquitted for lack of sufficient evidence, according to prosecutors. An NGO also filed a torture complaint against him in France in 2021, accusing him of organising and planning the mission.

State of the evidence

Documented

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Directly implicated

During an appearance in London in March 2017, activists opposed to the war in Yemen attempted a "citizen's arrest" of Assiri, accusing him of war crimes, and threw an egg at him. Footage also showed Assiri giving the protesters the middle finger. The incident prompted a British diplomatic response to Riyadh.

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Directly implicated

As spokesperson for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, Ahmed al-Assiri participated in official communications following the deadly strike on a funeral gathering in Sanaa in October 2016. The coalition initially denied responsibility before an internal investigation acknowledged a strike based on incorrect information.

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Institutional responsibility

After months of controversy over the use of British BL-755 cluster bombs in Yemen, the coalition officially acknowledged in December 2016 that it had used them and announced that it would stop doing so. Ahmed al-Assiri, then its spokesperson, said they had been used to a limited extent against military objectives and not in residential areas.

State of the evidence

Admitted by the person

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Directly implicated

Following the strikes on a market in Mastaba on 15 March 2016, which Human Rights Watch said killed 97 civilians, including 25 children, Assiri stated that the coalition had targeted a gathering of militia members and acknowledged that the site was used for buying and selling qat. HRW considered that the possible presence of combatants did not justify the strike as conducted and that a criminal investigation into a possible war crime was necessary.

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Directly implicated

After a strike on a hospital supported by Médecins Sans Frontières in Haydan, Assiri initially denied that a coalition strike had hit the facility. The same day, the Saudi ambassador to the UN acknowledged that the coalition had carried out the attack, describing it as an "error". Human Rights Watch cited the episode as an example of inadequate or contradictory responses to potentially unlawful strikes.

State of the evidence

Documented

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Directly implicated