Police search Saudi consul’s home
Turkish crime-scene investigators searched the home of the Saudi consul general in Istanbul on Wednesday in the disappearance of Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi, and a pro-government newspaper published a gruesome account of the journalist’s alleged slaying.
As Saudi Arabia’s green national flag flapped overhead, forensics teams entered the residence, only 2 kilometres (1.2 miles) from the consulate where Khashoggi vanished Oct. 2 while trying to pick up paperwork to get married.
It was the second-such extraordinary search of a site considered under international law to be sovereign Saudi territory after investigators spent hours in the consulate earlier this week.
The account published in the Yeni Safak newspaper alleged that Saudi officials cut off Khashoggi’s fingers and then decapitated him at the consulate as his fiancee waited outside.
The searches and the leaks in Turkish media have ensured the world’s attention remains focused on what happened to Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist who went into a selfimposed exile in the U.S. over the rise of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
It also put further strains on the relationship between the kingdom, the world’s largest oil exporter, and its main security guarantor, the United States, as tensions with Iran and elsewhere in the Middle East remain high.
In Washington, the U.S. asked Turkey for a recording that could reveal gruesome details of what happened to Khashoggi, President Donald Trump said Wednesday.
Flying back home after a visit to both Saudi Arabia and Turkey, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo remained positive about an ongoing Saudi probe into Khashoggi’s disappearance, but he stressed that answers are needed.
“Sooner’s better than later for everyone,” Pompeo said.