Khashoggi’s Body Cut Up, Turkish Official Says
ASaudi mission to interrogate and possibly abduct journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul was organized by a high-ranking officer with the General Intelligence Presidency, Saudi Arabia’s main intelligence service, three sources familiar with the case told CNN.
One of those sources describes the officer involved as close to the inner circle of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
It is unclear whether the crown prince authorised an interrogation or abduction. CNN has previously reported that several US officials have said that any such operation could not have happened without the prince’s direct knowledge.
A second source said the officer assembled and sent his own team to interrogate Khashoggi. They suspected Khashoggi of having ties to the kingdom’s arch rival, Qatar, the source said. There has been no evidence to substantiate Khashoggi had such ties. Another source told CNN the mission’s organiser was not transparent about what he told Riyadh, explaining why the government had no clear information for days.
It’s not clear whether these elements will be included in the report ordered by the Saudi authorities into the affair. On Tuesday, President Trump tweeted that Crown Prince Mohammed had said in a phone call that he had started and would expand a full investigation into the matter and that answers would be forthcoming shortly.
A Turkish official told CNN on Tuesday that Khashoggi’s body was cut into pieces after he was killed two weeks ago at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
The claim, which was first made to the New York Times earlier in the investigation into Khashoggi’s fate, comes after Turkish officials searched the consulate for nine hours on Monday night. The Turkish official would not comment on the disposal method for the body.
Turkish officials have said privately that Khashoggi was killed in the consulate on October 2 after he arrived to obtain papers that would have allowed him to marry his Turkish fiancée, Hatice Cengiz. Saudi Arabia has previously insisted he left the building alive, but Cengiz says she never saw him again.