Algerian opposition slams bin Salman's visit

By Abdel-Razzak Abdullah

ALGIERS

Algeria’s largest Islamic party on Monday criticized Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia for welcoming Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who arrived in the country a day earlier for an official visit.

"Ouyahia stepped on the principles of Algeria’s foreign policy," Abderrazak Makri, head of the opposition movement, said in a statement.

The visit comes "without any consideration of principles and values and without taking into consideration Algeria's reputation and its real, firm and permanent interests," he added.

Bin Salman arrived in Algeria on Sunday as part of a foreign tour amid criticism by several political figures and parties, who decried the timing of the visit as "inappropriate".

The Saudi crown prince’s tour is his first since Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist and columnist for The Washington Post, was killed early last month inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.

After saying he had left the consulate alive, Saudi Arabia admitted weeks later that he was killed there, blaming his death on a group of rogue Saudi operatives.

A CIA assessment released earlier this month appeared to implicate bin Salman in Khashoggi’s murder.