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John McDonnell calls on May to stand up to the Saudis following journalist's apparent murder

Jamal Khashoggi disappeared after entering Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul

BRITAIN must stand up to Saudi Arabia after a journalist was allegedly murdered in the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul, shadow chancellor John McDonnell said today.

Turkish investigators believe reporter Jamal Khashoggi was killed last week in a premeditated murder.

Mr Khashoggi, a critic of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, vanished on Tuesday during a visit to the consulate for paperwork to marry his Turkish fiancee.

Mr McDonnell said that if the information coming out is true, it is “absolutely appalling and unacceptable.”

He added: “We, along with other nations now, should stand up to the Saudi government and make sure they know it is unacceptable, and if this means taking action in some form, we should take those actions.

“I've been on a number of demonstrations when the Saudi regime have sent representatives here because of human rights abuses and if this is another example of that, we've got to be much firmer.”

Saudi's Istanbul consulate called the murder claims “baseless” and insisted the writer left its premises.

Mr Khashoggi has criticised the Gulf kingdom’s war in Yemen as well as the arrests of women’s rights activists after a lift on the driving ban for women.

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