Canada slaps 17 Saudi nationals with sanctions over Khashoggi murder

The Canadian government has imposed sanctions on 17 individuals “responsible for or complicit in” the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said in a statement on Thursday. The official slammed the killing as an “abhorrent” deed, which was “an unconscionable attack on the freedom of expression of all individuals.” The sanctions freeze assets of the 17 Saudis and deny them the right to seek asylum in Canada. Khashoggi vanished early in October, after he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. Riyadh had initially denied that the journalist was slain, but admitted later that he was killed and that his killing was “premeditated.” Gruesome details of the murder have been widely publicized by Turkish media, while the whereabouts of the journalist’s body still remain a mystery.