A Washington Post editorial Friday criticized President Joe Biden for failing to sanction Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for approving the murder of the newspaper's former columnist, Jamal Khashoggi.
Khashoggi had written critically of MBS, as he's known, for The Washington Post before his death in October 2018.
Friday's Post op-ed was entitled "Mohammed bin Salman is guilty of murder. Biden should not give him a pass."
Earlier in the day, the Biden administration declassified a report blaming MBS for approving the operation to capture or kill the journalist and dissident.
The Post's op-ed appeared after a New York Times story summarized a leaked official U.S. intelligence assessment that found MBS directed the assassination of Khashoggi, who then was dismembered.
Still, the White House announced no specific sanctions against MBS.
The Post then called out the new president for not putting in place any kind of official government punishment against MBS. The newspaper's op-ed board suggested a travel ban and asset freeze on the prince.
"That President Biden has chosen not to pursue that course suggests that the 'fundamental' change he promised in U.S.-Saudi relations will not include holding to account its reckless ruler, who consequently is unlikely to be deterred from further criminal behavior," the op-ed board said.
According to the op-ed, without imposed penalties, MBS will feel strengthened to kill more dissidents at home and abroad, per Mediaite.
"Mr. Biden is nevertheless granting what amounts to a pass to a ruler who has sown instability around the Middle East in recent years while presiding over the most severe repression of dissent in modern Saudi history," the op-ed said. "It is a risky course to adopt in the absence of evidence that MBS is prepared to fundamentally alter his regime."
A team of 15 Saudi agents traveled to Istanbul, Turkey, to meet Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate. He had gone there to pick up documents that would allow him to marry his Turkish fiancée, who waited outside.
Turkish officials allege Khashoggi was killed, and then dismembered with a bone saw inside the consulate. His body has not been found.