Pompeo-Saudi king hold talks on missing journo
US top diplomat Mike Pompeo held t a l k s w it h Saud i K i ng Sa l ma n on Tuesday seek i ng a nswers about t he disappea ra nce of journa list Ja mal K hashogg i, a mid US media repor ts t he k ingdom may be mulling an admission he d ied du r i ng a botched interrogation.
“Rogue killers” could be to blame for the disappearance of Khashoggi, who has not been seen since he walked into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2 to sort out marriage paperwork, US President Donald Trump said after telephone talks with the king.
Trump dispatched Pompeo to Riyadh for what the State Department described as “face to face meetings with the Saudi leadership”.
After his talks with the king, Pompeo was to have dinner with his powerful son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, a US official told the accompanying press.
Turkish police on Monday searched the consulate for the first time since the disappearance of Khashoggi, a Saudi national and US resident who had become increasingly critical of Prince Mohammed.
US media reported on Monday that the kingdom is considering an admission that Khashoggi died after an interrogation that went wrong during an intended abduction.
The UN human rights chief called Tuesday for the lifting of the immunity of officials who might be involved in Khashoggi’s disappearance.
“In view of the seriousness of the situation surrounding the disappearance of Mr. Khashoggi, I believe the inviolability or immunity of the relevant premises and officials . . . should be waived immediately,” Michelle Bachelet said in a statement.
Until Monday, Riyadh had not allowed Turkish investigators to search the consulate – officially Saudi territory – with reports both sides were at odds over the conditions.
The i nvest i g a t or s, who searched the premises for eight hours into Tuesday morning, took samples with them, including soil from the consulate garden, one official at the scene said.
Istanbul police are now also planning to search the nearby consul’s residence, a diplomatic source said.
‘No knowledge’
Tr ump’s comments ca me a f ter a telephone conversation with King Salman, father of t he crown prince, t he f irst such t a l k s si nce t he cr i si s erupted.
“Just spoke to t he King of Saudi Arabia who denies any k nowledge of whatever may have happened ‘to our Saudi A r a bi a n c it i z e n’,” Tr u mp t weeted.
Riyadh’s most recent comments have focused on having no knowledge of any killing or denying that any order to kill Khashoggi had been given.
“The denial was very, very strong,” Trump later told reporters at the White House. “It sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers. Who knows?”
But CNN cited two sources as saying the Saudis are preparing a report that his death resulted from a botched interrogation, while the Wall Street Journal said the kingdom was weighing whether to say that r o g u e o p e r a t i v e s k i l l e d Khashoggi by mistake.
After his crunch talks in Riyadh Tuesday, Pompeo was expected in Turkey on Wednesday to meet Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, the state-run Anadolu news agency said.
The search came after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and King Salman also had their first telephone talks since the controversy erupted.
Britain, France and Germany released a rare joint statement saying they were treating Khashoggi’s disappearance “with the utmost seriousness” and calling for a “credible investigation”.