Timeline: Crisis in Saudi

28 December 2020: Saudi invited Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi to join the GCC Summit in January in what analysts believe is sign that the Gulf crisis may be coming to an end

26 April 2020: Saudi Arabia announces it will abolish the death penalty for those who committed crimes while still minors

26 April 2020: Saudi authorities are seeking to produce a movie, in which the leaders of the local Al-Hwaiti tribe would disown their son, Abdul Rahim, who was shot dead by the security forces after he refused to give up his home to make for a major government project

25 April 2020: Saudi’s MBC airs a Ramadan series which opens with Hebrew monologue, raising criticism that the kingdom is seeking to ‘normalise relations with Israel’

24 April 2020: Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman is seeking to revive Saudi Arabia’s media image by launching a new TV news channel in the near future called Asharq

24 April 2020: Saudi Arabia is ending flogging as a form of punishment, according to a document from the kingdom’s top court seen by Reuters

24 April 2020: Leading Saudi human rights figure, Abdullah Al-Hamid, died in prison after suffering a stroke earlier this month, Human Rights Watch reports

23 April 2020: With the backing of UN member states, Saudi acquires a seat on the Science and Technology Development Committee from next year until 2024, and another on the Commission for Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice between 2021 and 2023

22 April 2020: Saudi activists accused of launching hashtag ‘Palestine is not my cause‘

22 April 2020: Saudi social media users launch a campaign against a Palestinian cartoonist working at Al Jazeera after the news site published a piece which criticised Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman 

22 April 2020: Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil-production company, enters a decisive stage in its endeavour to obtain a $10 billion loan from a number of banks as global oil prices plummet

21 April 2020: Saudi authorities arrest eight members of the Al-Hwaiti tribe in the north-western town of Al-Khuraybah days tribal leader Abdul Rahim Al-Hwaiti was shot dead for refusing to give up his home to make way for the kingdom’s NEOM mega-city project

21 April 2020: Saudi is accused of ‘sportswashing’ its human rights abuses through the purchase of Newcastle United

21 April 2020: Al Jazeera presenter Jamal Rayyan reveals that he has received several death threats from Saudi intelligence agencies after criticising the kingdom and asking the monarch, King Salman Bin Abdulaziz, to apologise to Qatar

20 April 2020: Al Jazeera television presenter Ghada Oueiss reveals that pro-Saudi social media accounts dubbed “electronic flies” have launched an intimidation campaign against her reporting of the murder of Saudi journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, who was assassinated inside the kingdom’s consulate in Turkey in 2018.

20 April 2020: An investment company in Saudi Arabia has said that it expects the kingdom’s debts to reach $228 billion this year, and the budget deficit to pass $120 billion , or 15.7 per cent of its GDP

17 April 2020: Saudi Arabia is set to sell about 600,000 barrels of crude per day to the United States in April, which will be the highest volume in a year, Bloomberg reports

17 April 2020: Human Rights Watch (HRW) announces that the mass trial of 68 Jordanians and Palestinians held by Saudi Arabia raises serious concerns about due process, amid charges that violations have been committed against detainees

17 April 2020: Militant Hindus spreading hatred and committing crimes against Muslims should be expelled from the Gulf, Saudi scholar Sheikh Abidi Zahrani says

17 April 2020: Saudi forces shoot tribal leader Abdul Rahim Al-Hwaiti of the Al-Hwaitat tribe for refusing to give up his home in order to make way for the kingdom’s so-called NEOM mega-project, initiated by Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman (MBS)

16 April 2020: Princess Basmah bint Saud bin Abdulaziz Al Saud appeals to Saudi Arabian King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and Crown Prince Muhammed Bin Salman to release her from prison

15 April 2020: The number of domestic workers in Saudi Arabia increased by 14 per cent in the last quarter of 2019, nearing four million

15 April 2020: One of Britain’s most well-known football clubs may soon become the latest Premiere League team to be bought up by oil rich Gulf states. A takeover bid for Newcastle United by none other than an investment fund belonging to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman is reported to be nearing completion

14 April 2020: Saudi Arabia conducted its 800th execution under the five-year reign of King Salman Bin Abdulaziz last week, the UK-based human rights organisation Reprieve reports

13 April 2020: The United Nations says the deportations of illegal migrant workers by Saudi Arabia to Ethiopia risks spreading the coronavirus

14 April 2020:  Authorities in Saudi Arabia block access to the websites of Turkish news sites Anadolu Agency and TRT Arabic

13 April 2020: Saudi Aramco’s shares continue to decline despite Sunday’s historic agreement to reduce oil production that was reached by OPEC+

12 April 2020: OPEC, Russia and other oil-producing states agree on to cut oil production by ten per cent to support oil prices after demand dropped due to the coronavirus pandemic

11 April 2020: Republican US senators from oil states who recently introduced legislation to remove American troops from Saudi Arabia say they have spoken with three officials from the kingdom and urged them to take concrete action to cut crude output

11 April 2020: A Turkish court accepts an indictment accusing 20 Saudi nationals of involvement in the gruesome premeditated murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul

27 March 2020: While its public budget suffers a growing deficit due to the tumbling oil prices and the spread of the novel coronavirus, the Saudi Ministry of Finance reveals that the kingdom sold local bonds (Islamic debt bonds) worth 15.568 billion Saudi riyals ($4.15 billion) in March

30 January 2019: Saudi Arabia closes 15-month anti-corruption campaign

12 November 2018: French President Emmanuel Macron is said to have intervened in the case of two detained and forcibly disappeared Saudi princes Salman Bin Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud and his father

11 November 2018: Jamal Khashoggi’s last words were: ‘I’m suffocating … Take this bag off my head’ according to reports in Turkish press

06 November 2018: Saudi King Salman sets off on his first domestic tour since taking to the throne in 2015 in what has been seen as a publicity exercise at a time when the kingdom has come under attack as a result of the murder of Jamal Khashoggi

05 November 2018: In their first interview, the sons of murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi issue an emotional appeal for the return of their father’s body

01 November 2018: the Washing Post reports that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman called Khashoggi a dangerous Islamist following his disappearance while in conversation with US officials. MBS was working to preserve US-Saudi relations

31 October 2018: Saudi budget deficit hits $13 billion in the third quarter of this year which the Ministry of Finance says is a drop from the same period last year

30 October 2018: WWE wrestling superstar John Cena has pulled out of a major show in Saudi Arabia, with observers speculating that the move comes in response to the brutal killing of Jamal Khashoggi

25 October 2018: The German Federal Police announces that it is suspending a training programme for Saudi National Guard forces in response to Khashoggi’s killing

25 October 2018: Khashoggi’s eldest son arrives in Washington with his family from Saudi Arabia at news emerges that the kingdom had imposed a travel ban on them

25 October 2018: It is revealed that Hollywood A-lister Scarlett Johansson refused to play a part in a movie if Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman was to fund it

25 October 2018: Turkish investigators record statements of 38 employees of the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, as part of a probe into killing of Khashoggi, judicial sources say

25 October 2018: Saudi Arabia’s public prosecutor says the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi was premeditated, reversing previous official statements that the killing was unintended

24 October 2018: The UK follows in the US’ steps and says  it will prevent all suspects in the death of Khashoggi from entering the country, Prime Minister Theresa May says

23 October 2018: The US is revoking the visas of 21 Saudi officials who have been implicated in the slaying of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says

23 October 2018: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Saudi sacked its Consul General to Istanbul Mohammed Al-Otaibi after a phone call he had with King Salman in which he told him the official was ‘not efficient’

23 October 2018: CIA Director Gina Haspel arrives in Turkey to help investigate the potential role of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi

22 October 2018: The man thought to have headed the squad sent to Turkey to silence Khashoggi is said to have called Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman’s office four times on the day of the murder

22 October 2018: Turkish police say they have found a car belonging to the Saudi consulate in a parking lot and request permission from the chief public prosecutor’s office to search it

21 October 2018: Turkey places Khashoggi’s fiancée  Hatice Cengiz under 24 hour police protection

21 October 2018: Chancellor Angela Merkel says Germany will stop arms exports to Saudi Arabia as long as the uncertainty around Khashoggi’s death persisted

21 October 2018: Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the US President Donald Trump hold a telephone conversation to discuss Khashoggi’s case

21 October 2018: Saudi Arabia calls the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at its Istanbul consulate a ‘huge and grave mistake’

"We are determined to uncover every stone. We are determined to find out all the facts and we are determined to punish those who are responsible for this murder."

In an exclusive interview with @BretBaier, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir discusses Jamal Khashoggi. pic.twitter.com/WhMezguJ56

— Fox News (@FoxNews) October 21, 2018

21 October 2018: Foreigners sold a net 4.01 billion riyal ($1.07 billion) in Saudi stocks in the week ending 18 October during a week when investors were rattled by Saudi Arabia’s deteriorating relations with foreign powers following the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi

21 October 2018: Saudi Arabia’s explanation of the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at its consulate in Istanbul is not credible, Britain’s Brexit minister Dominic Raab says

21 October 2018: US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says it is premature to comment on possible sanctions against Saudi Arabia, an investigation in to what happened has to be completed

21 October 2018: Siemens boss Joe Kaeser comes under pressure from senior German politicians to pull out of an investment conference in Saudi Arabia next week following Khashoggi’s death

21 October 2018: French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire urges Saudi to hold a full and transparent investigation in to Khashoggi’s death

21 October 2018: A Saudi official, who speaks on condition of anonymity, says 15 Saudi nationals were sent to confront Khashoggi at the consulate on 2 October and threatened to drug and kidnap him, then killed in a chokehold when he resisted. A member of the team then dressed in his clothes to make it look like he left the building

20 October 2018: Saudi Arabia deployed an online army to harass journalist Jamal Khashoggi and other critics of the kingdom on Twitter, the New York Times reports

20 October 2018: Germany should not approve arms sales to Saudi Arabia until investigations into Khashoggi’s death have been completed, Foreign Minister Heiko Maas says

19  October 2018: Twitter has suspended a number of fake accounts used to defame the case of murdered journalist Khashoggi, TechSpot reports

19 October 2018: The Turkish Republican People’s Party calls for the formation of a parliamentary committee to investigate the death of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul

19 October 2018: The Head of Saudi Arabia’s Forensic Department, Salah Al-Tubaigy, is thought to have cut the body of murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 15 minutes in a pre-prepared room inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul

19 October 2018: Saudi state TV confirms that journalist Jamal Khashoggi died in the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul after a fight broke out between him and officials there. Intelligence chief, General Ahmed Al-Asiri, is sacked in connection to the death

19 October 2018: Turkey says it has not shared the audio recording it has with evidence that Khashoggi was tortured and killed in the consulate with anyone, contradicting claims by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that he had heard the recordings

18 October 2018: US President Donald Trump says Khashoggi is ‘likely dead’  adding that the US response to Saudi Arabia will likely be ‘very severe’ but that he still wanted to get to the bottom of what exactly happened

18 October 2018: Saudi Prince Khalid Bin Farhan Al Saud has demanded King Salman Bin Abdulaziz to abdicate the throne because ‘the killers’ in Khashoggi’s case ‘would have received a direct authorisation from the head of state’

18 October 2018: Turkish Justice Minister says courts in his country can demand anyone suspected of involvement in the disappearance and alleged torture and murder of Khashoggi to return to Turkey for trial

18 October 2018: Goldman Sachs becomes the latest company to pull out of Saudi’s investment conference next week

18 October 2018: More than 40 lawmakers urge US President Donald Trump to impose sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act on those responsible for the murder of a missing Saudi journalist

18 October 2018: The UK’s International Trade Secretary Liam Fox has pulled out of an investment conference in Saudi Arabia next week

18 October 2018: Turkish investigators complete their search of the Saudi consul general’s official residence in the early hours of the morning as part of a probe into the disappearance of Khashoggi

17 October 2018: A Turkish newspaper reports that one of the suspects involved in the disappearance of Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi died in a ‘suspicious car accident’ in Riyadh

17 October 2018: US President Donald Trump says he does not want to abandon ally Saudi Arabia over the disappearance of a Saudi journalist and has asked for audio recordings Turkish sources say indicate he was killed by Saudi agents

17 October 2018: A bill in the House of Representatives would halt arms sales to Saudi Arabia unless Secretary of State Mike Pompeo certifies the kingdom did not order the killing of Jamal Khashogg

17 October 2018: US media reports reveal that Maher Mutreb, the suspected coordinator of Jamal Khashoggi’s assassination, is a diplomat and very close to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman

17 October 2018: As many as 20 international firms have pulled out of a major investment conference in Saudi Arabia following the disappearance and suspected murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi

16 October 2018: Turkey’s National Intelligence Organisation has an 11-minute audio recording of the torture and murder of  Khashoggi inside his country’s consulate in Istanbul

16 October 2018: The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR) Michelle Bachelet calls on Saudi Arabia to the lift diplomatic immunity of its officials in Istanbul following the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi

16 October 2018: Saudi Prince Khalid Bin Farhan Al Saud says Saudi officials tried to lure him a few weeks ago to kidnap him and take him to the kingdom

16 October 2017: US President Donald Trump gave Saudi Arabia the benefit of the doubt in the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi saying: ‘Here we go again with you’re guilty until proven innocent’

16 October 2018: Saudi Arabia’s consul general in Istanbul Mohammad Al-Otaibi leaves Turkey for Riyadh

16 October 2018: Reports that the Saudi government is considering admitting that prominent journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed in a botched operation after being interrogated

15 October 2018: European Union’s Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini calls on the Saudi authorities to conduct a thorough investigation and cooperate fully with the Turkish authorities in the case of missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi

15 October 2018: US President Donald Trump dispatches Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to meet King Salman and visit Turkey to discuss the case of Jamal Khashoggi

15 October 2018: The Saudi embassy in Washington cancels its annual National Day reception in an email that gave no explanation for the move, amid a diplomatic crisis over the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey. An event in London days earlier was met with protests

15 October 2018: Former Director of the CIA, John O. Brennan, says it would be inconceivable that the Saudis would run such an operation to kill Khashoggi without the knowledge of the day-to-day decision maker, Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman

14 October 2018: Saudi warns the world that ‘US sanctions on Riyadh would mean Washington is stabbing itself’ in response to growing pressure for action not be taken against the kingdom following the disappearance and suspected torture and murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi

14 October 2018: Ford Motor Co Chairman Bill Ford cancels a multi-stop trip to the Middle East, including a planned appearance at a Saudi investment conference, the latest such cancellation after the disappearance of Khashoggi

14 October 2018: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Saudi King Salman Bin Abdulaziz discussed the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi during a phone conversation

14 October 2018: Britain’s main opposition Labour Party would stop selling arms to Saudi Arabia if it was in government, its foreign policy spokeswoman says

14 October 2018: Saudi Arabia’s stock market plunges as investors worried about deteriorating relations with the international community after the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi

13 October 2018: Saudi Arabia must cooperate with the investigation into the disappearance of Khashoggi and let Turkish officials enter its Istanbul consulate, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu says

13 October 2018: Turkey’s investigation into the disappearance of Khashoggi has revealed recordings made on his Apple Watch purportedly indicating he was tortured and killed, a Turkish newspaper reports

12 October 2018: US President Donald Trump says he will call Saudi King Salman to discuss the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi

 12 October 2018: Khashoggi’s fiancée, Khadija Genghis, says she is ‘on the brink of collapse’

11 October 2018: A number of British members of parliament and of the House of Lords urged Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt to call for an investigation in to the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi

11 October 2018: Turkish authorities allegedly have audio and video recordings which prove that Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed and torn to pieces inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, The Washington Post claims

11 October 2018: British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt warns of ‘serious consequences’ if Khashoggi was killed inside Saudi consulate in Istanbul

11 October 2018: Virgin Group will suspend its discussions with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund over a planned $1 billion investment in the group’s space ventures in light of the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi

11 October 2018: Turkish authorities inform the US of an audio recordings documenting the murder of Khashoggi

11 October 2018: Media companies pull out of a Saudi investment conference as outrage grows over the journalist who went missing inside a Saudi consulate in Turkey earlier this month

11 October 2018: Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair says Khashoggi’s disappearance is extremely troubling and went against the spirit of the reforms advocated by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman

11 October 2018: US President Donald Trump says he sees no reason to cut off arms sales to Saudi Arabia following the disappearance of Khashoggi

11 October 2018: American intelligence intercepted communications of Saudi officials discussing a plan to capture Khashoggi, the Washington Post claims

10 October 2018: Turkish authorities seek to search the house of the Saudi consul in Istanbul Mohammad Al-Otaibi

10 October 2018: Saudi authorities have asked Turkey to postpone searching its consulate in Istanbul where Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi is believed to have been killed last week, Turkish newspaper Yeni Şafak reports

10 October 2018: US President Donald Trump increases pressure on Saudi Arabia to provide information on what happened to Khashoggi, saying he wants to get to the bottom of what he called ‘a very serious situation’

10 October 2018: Former US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz says he has suspended his role on the board of Saudi Arabia’s planned megacity NEOM until more is known about the journalist Jamal Khashoggi

10 October 2018: Twenty-two US senators forced a US investigation of whether human rights sanctions should be imposed over the disappearance of Khashoggi

10 October 2018: Jamal Khashoggi was killed on the orders of Saudi leadership, Turkish officials reveal to the New York Times

10 October 2018: Turkish officials confirm that  the prosecutor in Istanbul will issue charges of hiding or killing Jamal Khashoggi against 15 Saudis, who arrived on board two planes and were in the consulate at the same time.

9 October 2018: US President Donald Trump says he has yet to speak to Saudi officials about the case of Khashoggi. Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo calls on Saudi Arabia to support a “thorough investigation” into the disappearance.

9 October 2018: Yasin Aktay, an adviser to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says that his country would prosecute all those involved in the issue of kidnapping or killing writer Khashoggi, “even if it is the Saudi consul himself or Saudi officials.” He adds that the kingdom had ignored Turkish attempts to make contact since his disappearance.

8 October 2018: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan says that officials at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul have to prove that Khashoggi had left its building. He adds that “security and intelligence officials are investigating Khashoggi’s case, and the prosecution is checking up the records of the arrival and departure of Saudi citizens from Istanbul airport.”

8 October 2018: US President Donald Trump says he is concerned about Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi. “I am concerned about it. I don’t like hearing about it,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “Hopefully that will sort itself out. Right now nobody knows anything about it.”

US President Donald Trump concerns about the fate of Saudi journalist and regime critic Jamal Khashoggi, who disappeared after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last week https://t.co/H5OG9FNULo pic.twitter.com/XV4Afa4F5m

— TRT World Now (@TRTWorldNow) October 9, 2018

7 October 2018: Saudi lawyer, former prosecutor and legal adviser, Mohammed Al-Meshal Al-Qahtani, announces his opposition to “the Saudi regime and its policies”, condemning “the kingdom’s arrest, torture and killing of intellectuals and clerks in prisons.”

7 October 2018: The Arab Organisation for Human Rights in UK calls on Turkey to disclose all the evidence it has regarding the fate of Khashoggi. It also calls for Ankara to use its diplomatic avenues to stir up international pressure on Saudi and urge the kingdom to assume full responsibility of what happened on 2 October.

7 October 2018: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said he was closely following the case of missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi after officials confessed yesterday that he was likely dead.

6 October 2018: Turkish prosecutors begin investigating the disappearance of Khashoggi, who has now been missing for four days. Their initial assessment of the situation is that Khashoggi has been killed at the consulate: “We believe that the murder was premeditated and the body was subsequently moved out of the consulate,” one Turkish official told Reuters.

The Guardian’s Martin Chulov stated that Turkish officials suspect the involvement of a 15-men team from Saudi Arabia arrived, that in Istanbul on the day Khashoggi disappeared and left soon afterwards.

High level Turkish officials claim a 15 man team #Saudi arrived in #Istanbul the day Khashoggi vanished, and left soon afterwards.

— Martin Chulov (@martinchulov) October 6, 2018

5 October 2018: Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman says in an interview with Bloomberg that that Saudi Arabia will allow Turkey to search its consulate in Istanbul sometime this week: “The premises are sovereign territory, but we will allow them to enter and search and do whatever they want to do. We have nothing to hide.”

4 October 2018: The Arab Organisation for Human Rights in the UK (AOHR UK) holds a press conference outside the Saudi Embassy in London yesterday calling on the Saudi government to reveal the whereabouts of Khashoggi.

3 October 2018: The US State Department says it is monitoring and seeking information on the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi

3 October 2018: Turkish and Saudi authorities give conflicting accounts as to the whereabouts of Khashoggi. Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin says Khashoggi is still in the consulate, with Saudi officials denying he entered the building.

2 October 2018: Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi has been reported missing by his fiancée, after he entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.

02 October 2018: Canada-based research group Citizen Lab reveals that Saudi Arabia is using Israeli software to eavesdrop on 27-year-old Saudi dissident Omar Abdulaziz

01 October 2018: Saudi Arabia faces a $1 billion lawsuit after being accused of “breaching international law” in relation to the streaming of sporting events owned Qatari based media group beIN.

30 September 2018: Saudi says it is expecting to run a deficit of 128 billion riyals ($34.1 billion) in 2019

18 September 2018: Saudi Arabia has told travel agents not to accept visa applications from Palestinian refugees in Lebanon who do not hold Palestinian Authority passports

06 September 2018: Cracks appear to be appearing between King Salman and his son Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman with the monarch stepping and reversing a number of his son’s policies and plans, media reports reveal

05 September 2018: It is revealed that the Tony Blair Institute received $12 million from Saudi Arabia in its work to ‘promote stability and reform in the Middle East’

03 September 2018: Spain announces that it has cancelled a contract which would see Saudi Arabia buy 400 high-precision bombs worth $10.6 million from Madrid because of its attacks on Yemen

19 July 2018: Saudi Arabia signs an agreement to build five warships with Spanish shipbuilder Navantia, the last of the vessels will be delivered by 2022

10 July 2018: Saudi’s King Salman issues a a royal pardon for all military forces who took part in the country’s war on Yemen, the move comes at a time when there have been increased calls for the Kingdom to be held accountable for the crimes it has committed against the people of Yemen

12 July 2018: A defence ministry official is charged with bribery and abusing their position for self-benefit or accepting a bribe of one million riyals ($266,584)

11 June 2018: Saudi Arabia allows women to apply for the position of border guards

10 June 2018: Saudi Arabia has paid $4.2 billion to its citizens over seven months as part of the government’s Citizen Account Programme to support nationals in the face of rising energy prices and newly-imposed taxes

18 May 2018: Saudi Arabia arrests at least five people, mostly women who previously campaigned for the right to drive and an end to the Kingdom’s male guardianship system, rights activists say

21 April 2018: Fears of a possible coup attempt as gun shots are heard in a royal palace in Riyadh for nearly one hour

16 April 2018: Qatari armed forces participate in the conclusion of the Gulf Shield 1 military exercise in Saudi Arabia

18 November 2017: Saudi Arabia summons its ambassador in Germany home for consultations over comments by German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel about the political crisis in Lebanon

17 April 2018: Saudi Arabia wants ‘no more Germany weapons’ due to Berlin’s support for Qatar

10 April 2018: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman meets with Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri and French President  Emmanuel Macron in Paris

10 April 2018: Saudi and France sign $20 billion worth of deals during Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman’s visit to Paris

23 March 2018: The flow of foreign investment in to Saudi Arabia drops sharply due to concerns over political and economic reforms introduced by Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman

22 March 2018: The US agrees to sell Saudi Arabia $1 billion in arms including  6,700 US-built anti-tank missiles made by the same company whose munition has been found in Yemen following Saudi-led air strikes in the country

22 March 2018: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman brags that he has Jared Kushner, senior advisor and son-in-law to US President Donald Trump, ‘in his pocket’

22 March 2018: US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis tells Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman there is an urgent need to find a political solution to Yemen’s war

22 March 2018: Air India makes an historic journey from New Delhi to Tel Aviv, Israel, over Saudi airspace in the first such flight of its kind

21 March 2018: An outgoing minister in the government of the internationally-backed Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi accuses the Saudi-led coalition of obstructing the authority’s work to restore life to the liberated areas in Yemen and withholding support for it

20 March 2018: Saudi Crown Price Mohammed Bin Salman begins a three-week official visit to the US where he is to discuss arms agreements, unrest in the Middle East including the situation in Yemen and the boycott of Qatar and Iran

20 March 2018: French arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the UAE could breach international law if these weapons are being used in the ongoing war in Yemen, a report commissioned by Amnesty has found

15 March 2018: Saudi Arabia will develop a nuclear bomb if Iran does, Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman warns

15 March 2018: A French judge issues an international arrest warrant for the daughter of Saudi Arabia’s King Salman Bin Abdulaziz in relation to an attack by her bodyguard against a worker in her Parisian flat, a source says

15 March 2018: The Saudi government is expected to take a 35 per cent stake in construction giant Saudi Binladin Group (SBG) as part of a financial settlement with state authorities, sources say

15 March 2018: Saudi Arabia is holding secret talks with Yemen’s Houthi group to end the three year war in the country

15 March 2018: Saudi Arabia signs an agreement in Riyadh to deposit $2 billion in the Central Bank of Yemen, Saudi Press Agency says

15 March 2018: Saudi Arabia denies claims that Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman has imprisoned his mother offering NBC News  a chance to interview her personally

14 March 2018: NBC News reports that 14 current and former senior US officials have said that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman has kept his mother away from his father for the past two years ‘concerned she may oppose his plans for a power grab’

12 March 2018: New information surrounding the mysterious death of Saudi military officer, Ali bin Abdullah Al-Jarash Al-Qahtani, who was arrested on corruption charges, reveal that the royal brigadier died from a broken neck and torture

07 March 2018: The Saudi Shura Council calls on the General Presidency of Scholarly Research and Ifta to review fatwas published on its official website in an effort to remove those which are based on the country’s interests which have changed including fatwas which ban the building of cinemas

7 March 2018: Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman describes Turkey as part of a ‘triangle of evil’ along with Iran and hardline Islamist groups

7 March 2018: A Labour MP calls on the British Parliament to carry out an investigation into possible Saudi influence on UK politics

7 March 2018: Protests greet the Saudi Crown Prince as begins his official visit to the UK. Save the Children set up a statue of a child outside Parliament calling for the end to the bombing of innocent civilians in Yemen

7 March 2018: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman begins a three-day official visit to the UK where he is set to meet the Queen, Prime Minister Theresa May and hold trade talks regarding weapons trade and the planned floating of Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest private company

6 March 2018: Air India has denied the claim by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Saudi Arabia has agreed to allow the carrier use its airspace for flights to Tel Aviv

6 March 2018: Forbes magazine announces that there are no Saudis on its Rich List this year following Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman’s purge on the Kingdom’s wealthiest businessmen and his subsequent takeover of their companies and personal wealth

6 March 2018: Saudi hosts its first fashion show for women in the Muslim holy city of Madina causing anger

26 February 2018: Saudi authorities are preparing to auction billions of dollars of real estate and cars belonging to billionaire Maan Al-Sanea

25 February 2018: Saudi is to allow women to sign up for military service as part of far reaching changes to the country’s economy and labour distribution

22 February 2018: Saudi Arabia announces that it is to invest $64 billion in its entertainment sector over the coming decade

16 February 2018: The Saudi owned Al Arabiya News Channel surrenders with immediate affect its UK broadcasting licence held with regulator Ofcom after Qatar complained that it was ‘violating impartiality code and accuracy in news sourcing’.

08 February 2018: Saudi Arabia’s government has acquired a 60% stake in media giant MBC Group a few days after the group’s founder and chairman of its Board of Directors Waleed Al-Ibrahim was released from the Ritz-Carlton Hotel

30 January 2017: Saudi media sources confirm the release of all detainees held on corruption charges at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in the capital Riyadh. The purge has  raised $106 billion for  Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman

29 January 2018: Saudi authorities have released renowned businessman Saleh Kamel while Mohammed Al-Amoudi has refused to hand over his money and property. Authorities have reacted by arresting some of his relatives

29 January 2018: Saudi Arabia’s Waleed Al-Ibrahim will keep his 40% management stake in regional television broadcaster MBC after his release from detention in the country’s ‘corruption probe’, a senior MBC executive to says

13 January 2018: Saudi Binladin Group announces that a number of its partners might concede their shares to the government as part of a financial reconciliation package

09 January 2018: Saudi Prince Abdullah Bin Saud Al-Saud was relieved of his post as president of the Saudi Arabia Marine Sports Federation after releasing an audio recording in which he contradicted the authorities’ reasons for arresting 11 princes last week

09 January 2018: The Yemen Army shuts the office of Al Jazeera in besieged Taiz

08 January 2018: Saudi authorities have transferred the remaining detainees being held in the Ritz-Carlton hotel to the maximum security Al-Ha’ir prison, south of Riyadh. The prisoners include Prince Al-Waleed Bin Talal

07 January 2018: 11 more princes are arrested after gathering to object to new rules that would demand royals pay for electricity and water

07 January 2018: Saudi authorities have imposed a travel ban on 17 members of prominent cleric Salman Al-Ouda’s immediate family, Human Rights Watch reports

13 December 2017: Studies are being undertaken to decide if the UAE and Saudi Arabia should launch a single digital currency

05 December 2017: Saudi announces that it has completed the first phase in its ‘anti-corruption’ drive, Minister of Commerce and Investment Majid Al-Qasabi says

29 November 2017: Saudi Prince Miteb Bin Abdullah, who was head of the elite National Guard, was freed after reaching an ‘acceptable settlement agreement’ with authorities paying more than $1 billion

23 November 2017: Reports that US mercenaries are being used to ‘torture’ the detained princes in the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Riyadh

22 November 2017: The Wall Street Journal reports that princes arrested in Mohamed Bin Salman’s purge could face trial and jail terms in a maximum security prison if  they do not give up their finaicial assets

22 November 2017: Reports that the arrest of billionaire Saudi businessman Mohammed Hussein Al-Amoudi could destabilise Ethiopia as a result of his vast investment in the country

23 November 2017: Saad Hariri ‘temporarily’ suspends his resignation until consultations are held with officials in Lebanon

21 November 2017: Saad Al-Hariri returns to Beirut for the first time since he resigned as prime minister in a statement delivered from Saudi Arabia

18 November 2017: Saad Hariri arrives in France for his first international visit following his abrupt resignation from the post of prime minister of Lebanon. French President Emmanuel Macron said he would receive Hariri in his capacity as Lebanon’s prime minister

16 November 2017: The Financial Times (FT) reports that Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman is negotiating a settlement which would see the country’s most well-known figures handover 70 per cent of their wealth in exchange for their freedom

09 November 2017: The US refuses to reveal details of a meeting held between its chargé d’affaires in Saudi Arabia and former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri

09 November 2017: The United Arab Emirates planned to wage a financial war against Qatar by targeting the country’s currency ‘using bonds and derivatives manipulation’, leaked emails revealed by the Intercept show

09 November 2017: Saudi Arabia advises its citizens against travelling to Lebanon and asks those in the country to leave as soon as possible, the Kingdom’s official news agency (SPA) reports

09 November 2017: Lebanon believes Saad Hariri is held in Saudi Arabia and unable to return. Lebanon’s former prime minister, said to be worth $1.1 billion has not left the Kingdom since he resigned from there on Saturday

09 November 2017: Saudi Arabia’s attorney-general says 208 people have been called in for questioning in a sweeping anti-corruption investigation, and seven of them have been released without charge, ‘we estimate that at least $100 billion has been misused through systematic corruption and embezzlement’

08 November 2017: Princess Reem, daughter of Prince Al-Waleed Bin Talal who was detained on Saturday, becomes the first female to be arrested

07 November 2017: Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman personally bribed Donald Trump with $1 billion during the US president’s visit to Riyadh in May, an anonymous Saudi commentator, who uses the Twitter handle Mujtahidd, claims

07 November 2017: Saudi Arabia bans Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, his two sons, ministers and military personnel from returning to Aden due to ‘bitter hostility between Hadi and the UAE’ which setup the Southern Transitional Council in the south of Yemen in opposition to Hadi’s rule

07 November 2017: The UAE releases a song called ‘Tell Qatar’, a collaboration between a number of high profile Emirati artists and those who live in the country

09 November 2017: News emerges that earlier this week the UAE instructed its banks and finance companies to provide information on the accounts of 19 Saudi citizens detained by Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman. They were not ordered to freeze the accounts

08 November 2017: The number of accounts frozen rises to 1,700 including the assets of former Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Nayef are amongst those frozen in the government’s ‘anti-corruption’ crackdown

08 November 2017: Billionaire businessman Mohammed Hussein Al-Amoudi is found to be one of those arrested. Al-Amoudi is the main foreign investor in Ethiopia’s Renaissance Dam. Thought to be worth $10.9 billion, he gave the government $88 million to start the project

08 November 2017: The Wall Street Journal reports that Saudi Arabia’s ‘anti-corruption’ crackdown may see the government seize up to $800 billion in cash and assets

07 November 2017: Yemen’s Houthi armed group offer asylum to anyone affected by Saudi Arabia’s ‘anti-corruption’ campaign. ‘We are ready to offer sanctuary to any member of Al Saud family or any national that wants to flee oppression and persecution,’ they have said

07 November 2017: Sources reveal that helicopter carrying Saudi Prince Mansour Bin Muqrin and seven other people was deliberately targeted by state forces because it is believed Bin Muqrin opposed Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman’s succession to the throne

07 November 2017: Saudi’s ‘anti-corruption’ drive will boost sustainable development in the Kingdom, the Saudi Cabinet says

07 November 2017: Former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri visits the UAE

07 November 2017: Saudi Arabian banks freeze more than 1,200 accounts belonging to individuals and companies in the Kingdom, bankers and lawyers say

06 November 2017: News is released that a no-fly list has been drawn up and security forces in some Saudi airports were barring owners of private jets from taking off without a permit

05 November 2017: Deputy Governor of Saudi Arabia’s southern Asir province, Prince Mansour Bin Muqrin, and seven other people including senior government officials and a mayor are killed in a helicopter crash near Yemen. The Prince is said to be a critic of Bin Salman’s leadership

05 November 2017: Saudi Arabia denies that the princes and former ministers who were arrested are receiving special treatment because of their titles as news emerges that they are being held at the five star Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Riyadh

04 November 2017: During a trip to Saudi Arabia, Lebanon’s Prime Minister Saad Hariri resigns citing an assassination attempt against him and accusing Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah of sowing strife in the Arab world

04 November 2017: 11 Princes and four current ministers scores of officials are arrested as part of the new ‘anti-corruption’ drive; they include international investor Prince Al-Waleed Bin Talal who is worth nearly $17 billion according to Forbes magazine

04 November 2017: Head of the National Guard, Prince Miteb Bin Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz, and Minister of Economy and Planning, Adel Bin Mohammed Fakeih, are both sacked as part of a Cabinet reshuffle.

04 November 2017: A royal decree is issued calling for the formation of an ‘anti-corruption committee’ headed by Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salam. The new body has the power to seize assets of suspects at home and abroad before the results of its investigations are known

28 October 2017: Saudi Arabia launches a $500 billion mega-city to encompass 50 islands on the Red Sea called NEOM which it hopes will be a tourism hub24 October 2017: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman vows to eradicate Wahabism in the Kingdom and encourage ‘moderate Islam’

03 October 2017: Somalia receives $50 million in new aid from Saudi Arabia

26 September 2017: Women in Saudi Arabia will legally be allowed to obtain driving licences from June next year, following a decree issued by King Salman

18 September 2017: Al Jazeera Media Network’s denounced Snapchat’s decision to pull the plug on its channel at the request of the Saudi government. The social media giant’s ‘alarming’ move sent a message that countries could silence dissenting views by pressuring social media and content distribution companies, Al Jazeera says

11 September 2017: Prominent Saudi religious leader Sheikh Salman Al-Ouda becomes the second cleric to be arrested by Saudi authorities after  Awad Al-Qarni is held. No reason is given for the arrested and neither is charged

4 September 2017: Saudi Arabia’s Rotana record company releases a song called ‘Teach Qatar’, a collaboration between a number of high profile Saudi artists and those who live in the country

22 August 2017: Qatar slams Saudi as despite granting Qatari pilgrims the rite of Hajj, they are only permitted to use Saudi airlines

17 August 2017: Saudi Arabia’s King Salman offers to host Qatari pilgrims at his expense

17 August 2017: GCC cancel Gulf volleyball championship as they were to be hosted by Qatar

 17 August 2017: Qatar welcomes Saudi decision to open borders to pilgrims

 16 August 2017: Saudi Arabia to open Salwa border point to Qatari pilgrims for Hajj

16 August 2017: Saudi state TV sparks outrage after producing a video saying it can ‘shoot down Qatari passenger flights’

31 July 2017: Qatar filed a wide-ranging legal complaint at the World Trade Organisation to challenge a trade boycott by Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and United Arab Emirates, Qatar’s WTO representative Ali Alwaleed Al-Thani told Reuters

31 July 2017: Qatar slams ‘false’ reports from Saudi that it is preventing its citizens from completing pilgrimage this year

31 July 2017: Qatar is trying to politicise the Hajj pilgrimage according to Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir

30 July 2017: The head of Iraq’s Shia Sadrist Movement, Moqtada Al-Sadr, visits Saudi Arabia for the first time in 11 years

22 July 2017: Saudi Arabia pays $138,000 for anti-Qatar adverts to be aired in the US in an attempt to alter public opinion

19 July 2017: Gulf boycott countries abandon their 13 demands in favour of six principles in order to end the crisis with Qatar

17 July 2017: Qatar felt ‘obliged’ to join the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, but its troops only patrolled the Saudi-Yemen borders and did not partake in any strikes in Yemen

10 July 2017: Saudi Arabia allows the Qatari officials who used to serve in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)’s Secretariat General to return to the Kingdom

9 July 2017: News reports reveal that Saudi Arabia tried to pressure Iraq to join the boycott of Qatar

4 July 2017: Kuwaiti sources reveal Qatar’s response to the list of demands saying Doha has agreed to reduce its relations with Iran ‘if all the Gulf countries commit to doing so’

2 July 2017: Saudi Arabia and its allies give Qatar a further 48 hours to respond to their demands

29 June 2017: A Saudi official denies a New York Times report that Prince Mohammed Bin Nayef has been confined to his palace and barred from travelling after he was replaced by the King’s son as next in line to the throne.

27 June 2017: Kuwait bans religious leaders which were included on a list of terrorists – as designated by Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt – from entering its territory

26 June 2017: Chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee said he would block arms sales to Saudi Arabia, the UAE and other members of the GCC pending progress in resolving a simmering dispute with Qatar

25 June 2017: Turkey says demands by Saudi Arabia and three other nations are ‘an attack to Qatar’s sovereignty right’

24 June 2017: Qatar says demands made by Saudi and the UAE to end the Gulf rift are not realistic and are ‘unacceptable’

22 June 2017: A list of 13 demands are handed to Qatar in order for the boycott to end and negotiations to begin. They include shutting down Al Jazeera and a number of other news sites, and handing over members of the Muslim Brotherhood

21 June 2017: Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman is promoted to crown prince, replacing his cousin in a sudden announcement that confirms King Salman’s 31-year-old son as next ruler of the Kingdom

20 June 2017: US says it is ‘mystified’ by the actions of Saudi Arabia and the UAE against Qatar as no demands have yet been made

19 June 2017: The state-run Qatar News Agency (QNA) assigned the London-based law firm Carter-Ruck to file an official complaint with Ofcom, UK’s broadcasting and communications regulator, against the Saudi-owned Al Arabiya news channel and Sky News Arabia for ‘violating impartiality code and accuracy in news’ sourcing’

16 June 2017: Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain affirm that their recent moves to diplomatically isolate Qatar are within their rights to protect their ‘national security’

12 June 2017: Somali President, Mohammed Abdullah Farmajo, refuses $80 million offered to him by Saudi Arabia to partake in the boycott of Qatar

9 June 2017: Saudi Arabia threatens hotels and tourism centres with $27,000 fines if they air Al Jazeera

9 June 2017: The Saudi-backed Muslim World League announces the suspension of Sheikh Yousef Al-Qaradawi’s membership in its Islamic Fiqh Academy

9 June 2017: Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt release a list of people and organisations with alleged links to Qatar which they designate as ‘terrorists’, including Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader Yousef Al-Qaradawi

7 June 2017: The Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas both reject claims by Saudi Arabia that they are ‘terrorist organisations’

7 June 2017: Qatar begins using Somali airspace after Saudi Arabia and other neighbouring countries ban its national carrier, Qatar Airways

7 June 2017: The Wall Street Journal has reported that the Trump International Hotel in Washington DC received nearly $270,000 as part of the Saudi government’s payments to lobby groups which work to further Riyadh’s interests in the United States

6 June 2017: Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister, Adel Al-Jubeir, says Qatar must end its support for Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood to restore ties with other Arab states

5 June 2017: For the first time in history, a Saudi journalist is interviewed on Israeli TV and says: ‘There is no place for Hamas in the Middle East’

5 June 2017: Saudi Arabia shuts Qatar-based Al Jazeera channel’s office in the Kingdom

5 June 2017:  The Yemeni government of President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi severs ties with Qatar. The Saudi-led coalition has been fighting to restore his power over the country since 2015.

5 June 2017: Qatar says it is the victim of “incitement… based on lies”

5 June 2017: Saudi expels Qatar from its coalition leading the war on Yemen

5 June 2017: Bahrain, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt announce they will sever ties with Qatar. Qatari diplomats are given 48 hours to return to their country while Qatari nationals and visitors are told to pack up and leave within two weeks

3 June 2017: UAE ambassador to the US Yousef Al-Otaiba’s email account is hacked revealing links between Al-Otaiba and a pro-Israel think-tank in Washington. The official is found to be urging the US to move its military base out of Qatar which he says sponsors ‘terrorism’

25 May 2017: Ministers from the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) agree to extend the existing production cuts to nine months, from the six months which had previously been approved

24 May 2017: Saudi, Egypt and UAE block sites belonging to Qatar including Al Jazeera

24 May 2017: Qatari News Agency hacked and remarks attributed to Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani published which criticise US foreign policy

22 May 2017: US President Donald Trump takes the first official direct flight from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to Tel Aviv, Israel

20 May 2017: The US and Saudi Arabia reach a $110 billion-plus arms deal, the White House announces

5 December 2016: Saudi King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud arrives in Doha in an attempt to strengthen ties between the two countries

1 December 2016: The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) agreed to curb production for the first time since 2008 the bulk of the cut will be shouldered by Saudi Arabia, while Iran has been allowed to increase its output to levels before it was hit by Western sanctions

2 January 2016: Saudi Arabia announces the execution of 47 people, including prominent Shia cleric Nimr Baqir Al-Nimr, over terrorism charges

March 2015: Qatar joins military intervention launched by Saudi Arabia in Yemen to reinstate President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and push back military advancements from the Iranian-backed Houthi group

September 2015: Qatar deploys 1,000 ground troops to fight in Yemen, including 200 armoured vehicles, and 30 Apache helicopters to Maarib province