Saudis say Khashoggi killed in fist fight
ISTANBUL • The Saudi government now says journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed in a fist fight while visiting the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
The announcement, which came in a tweet late Friday from the Saudi foreign ministry, said that an initial investigation by the government’s general prosecutor found that Khashoggi had been in discussions with people inside the consulate when a quarrel broke out, escalating to a fatal fist fight.
The Saudi government said it had fired five top officials and arrested 18 other Saudis as a result of the initial investigation. Those fired included Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s adviser Saud al-Qahtani and deputy intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Ahmed al-Assiri.
The announcement marks the first time that Saudi officials have acknowledged that Khashoggi was killed inside the consulate. Ever since he disappeared on Oct. 2 while visiting the mission, Saudi officials have repeatedly said he left the consulate alive and that they had no information about his whereabouts or fate.
Turkish investigators had concluded days ago that Khashoggi, a contributing columnist to The Washington Post, was killed and dismembered by a Saudi team dispatched to Istanbul.
Earlier Friday, Turkish prosecutors questioned staff at the Saudi Consulate, state media said, suggesting attempts to strengthen a possible criminal case with insider details from the last place Khashoggi was seen alive.
An undisclosed number of consulate employees in Istanbul were interviewed by prosecutors, the semi-official Anadolu news agency reported, a day after Turkish authorities began combing through wooded areas outside Istanbul in an apparent search for Khashoggi’s remains.
Turkish officials say that Khashoggi — a resident of Virginia — was killed by a 15-member Saudi hit squad after he entered the consulate.
The refocus on the consulate employees suggests that investigators are seeking to bolster a possible criminal case. Turkish officials say they also have an audio tape that purports to record Khashoggi’s killing, but the tape has not been shared with American or Saudi officials.
The disappearance of Khashoggi has provoked global criticism of Saudi Arabia’s de-facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and convulsed the kingdom as it struggles to respond to increasing international pressure to explain the journalist’s fate.
Turkish media reports said more than a dozen Turkish staff members of the consulate — including technicians, drivers, telephone operators and accountants — were being interviewed by prosecutors.
Their accounts could provide valuable insights into the movements of Saudi officials at the mission in the hours and days before and after Khashoggi vanished.