Saudi Arabia on Saturday admitted that dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi had been killed
OCTOBER 22nd, 2018
By Patryk Krych | The World Daily
Detailing the death of the Saudi journalist: Jamal Khashoggi
It’s been over half a month since the assumed death of the popular journalist Jamal Khashoggi, an esteemed critic of the Saudi government, as well as former general manager and editor-in-chief of Al-Arab News Channel, who had suddenly disappeared, on the 2nd of October 2018. He disappeared shortly after entering the country’s consulate in Istanbul, Turkey.
Turkish officials denied having had any involvement with the murder, and made accusations towards Saudi agents within the building. They had provided evidence for the accusations, in the form of audio recordings. Though some time had passed since the accusations had been made, Saudi Arabia had at last admitted that the journalist was dead, having initially denied the accusations.
According to a public prosecutor, Khashoggi had gotten into and argument that transpired into a fight with the people he’d met with, which ultimately resulted in the journalist’s death. He was known for having frequently written columns in the Washington Post in the US after a self-imposed exile from his country, columns in which he often wrote about criticisms about the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and his policies.
Only three days before his disappearance, he expressed his concerns to the BBC's Newshour programme about the possibility of being arrested in a crackdown on dissent superintended by the prince, ever since he had become the first in line to succeed his father; King Salman earlier that year, "The people being arrested are not even being dissidents, they just have an independent mind."
Khashoggi ‘s fiancée; Hatice Cengiz, wrote in an article for the Washington Post that "He did not mind walking into the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul because he did not believe that something bad could happen on Turkish soil,” confirming that he had gone in first on the 28th of September, in order to acquire a document that certified that he had officially divorced his ex-wife, in order to marry his Cengiz. He rearranged to return on the 2nd of October, after being told he’d have to return later.
"Jamal was hardly concerned ahead of his second visit," she added, this in fact being confirmed by his friends who’d mentioned that Khashoggi stated he was treated “very warmly” during his initial visit. Despite this, he had apparently made two phone calls to his fiancée, telling her that if he does not return, she is to make a call to the adviser to Turkish President; Tayyip Erdogan.
"We have nothing to hide," says Prince Mohammed to Bloomberg News, adding that his government was "very keen to know what happened" to Khashoggi, and that the journalist had in fact left the consulate "after a few minutes or one hour". Saudi Arabia denied having any knowledge of what happened to the journalist for the entire two weeks. Prince Khaled bin Salman; Prince Mohammed's brother and the Saudi ambassador to the US, claimed that the reports regarding the journalist’s death were "completely false and baseless," despite the recent confirmation and evidence.
"The investigations are still under way and 18 Saudi nationals have been arrested," said state television on the 20th of October, reporting that he had in fact been killed in the consulate. Turkish officials have expressed beliefs that Khashoggi had been tortured and killed, and that the body had been removed afterwards, all by Saudi agents.
A separate, unnamed source told the Washington Post that "You can hear his voice and the voices of the men speaking Arabic," the source being a Turkish official is all that is known, adding "You can hear how he was interrogated, tortured and then murdered."
Details of the recorded dialogue had been shared on the Turkish pro-government, conservative newspaper; Yeni Safak, mentioning how Saudi Consul General Mohammed al-Otaibican be heard saying "Do this outside. You're going to get me in trouble," over the sounds of torture in interrogation.
15 members of the Saudi consulate agents have been identified according to Turkish media, all of which had apparently flown in and out of Istanbul on the day of the disappearance. Four of those men had been linked to the Saudi Crown Prince, with another having served as a colonel in Saudi intelligence. The allegations against the 15 seem to be vastly supported by freely accessible open source information. The allegations further accuse that a bone saw had been brought with them along into the country, and that one of the 15 was a doctor specialising in post-mortems.
Turkish officials are making their investigations as we speak, though had only been allowed into the consulate on the 15th of October, not long after a group of cleaners had been seen leaving the building. They’ve gathered DNA samples and are hoping to find more overall evidence to make their case. The nearby Belgrade forest and farmland in Yalova are also being investigated, as two vehicles belonging to the Saudi consulate had apparently headed in that direction on the day of the killing, some argue to get rid of the body of Khashoggi.
Turkey has promised to make public whatever they find in regards to the case whenever appropriate and confirmed. The audio recordings are first to be made public.
By Patryk Krych | The World Daily
