OTTAWA – "Better answers" are needed from Saudi Arabia on the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Trudeau told reporters Wednesday that he said this "directly" to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman when the two were both in Buenos Aires for the G20 Summit last week.
There, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland announced sanctions targeting 17 people "responsible for or complicit in" Khashoggi's murder.
Khashoggi was killed in October, at Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul. U.S. intelligence officials have said that the murder was carried out by agents of the Saudi government and ordered by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Absent from Canada's sanction list was the crown prince.
Asked Wednesday if Canada will sanction bin Salman, Trudeau said: "I talked directly to the prince in Buenos Aires telling him that we need better answers on what happened to Khashoggi and who is responsible for it, and we’re going to continue to press for answers."
Trudeau said Canada is still working with international counterparts to seek more information about the journalists' death, and did not address the question of whether or not bin Salman was responsible.
