Khashoggi's Killer Pardoned by Saudi King

The Arabic-language al-Nashrah news website of Lebanon quoted Mujtahid as writing on his twitter page that al-Qahtani still continues his job which is running the social media for Saudi Arabia’s crown prince and supervising the intelligence and foreign ministries.

"Al-Qahtani has been apparently pardoned by King Salman and at present is using several twitter accounts, including Monzar Al Shaikh Mubarak," he added.

Al-Qahtani, a top aide for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was one of the fall guys as Riyadh tried to stem international outrage at Khashoggi’s death. Saudi state media reported in October that King Salman had sacked Qahtani and four other officials over the killing carried out by a 15-man hit team.

But Qahtani’s influence in the crown prince’s entourage has been so vast over the past three years - his own rise tracking that of his boss - that it will be hard for Saudi officials to paint Qahtani as the mastermind of the murder without also raising questions about the involvement of Prince Mohammed, according to several sources with links to the royal court.

Qahtani himself once said he would never do anything without his boss’ approval.

“Do you think I make decisions without guidance? I am an employee and a faithful executor of the orders of my lord the king and my lord the faithful crown prince,” Qahtani tweeted last summer.

After Khashoggi scandal, his biography on Twitter changed from royal adviser to chairman of the Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming and Drones, a role he had held before.

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