Prosecutor details scribe’s brutal death
PARIS/ISTANBUL: Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was strangled as soon as he entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul as part of a premeditated killing, and his body was dismembered before it was removed, a top Turkish prosecutor said Wednesday.
Chief Istanbul prosecutor Irfan Fidan’s office also said in a statement that discussions with Saudi chief prosecutor Saud al-mojeb yielded “no concrete result” despite Turkey’s “goodintentioned efforts to reveal the truth.”
The statement was the first public confirmation by a Turkish official that Khashoggi was strangled and mutilated after he entered the Saudi Consulate on October 2. It also pointed to a lack of cooperation from Saudi officials in the investigation of the slaying. “In accordance with plans made in advance, the victim, Jamal Khashoggi, was strangled and killed immediately after entering the Consulate General of Saudi Arabia,” the prosecutor’s office said.
“The victim Jamal Khashoggi’s body was dismembered and destroyed following his death by suffocation again, in line with the advance plans,” the two-page statement read.
Turkey is seeking the extradition of 18 suspects in the journalist’s slaying who were detained in Saudi Arabia. It also is pressing Saudi Arabia for information about who ordered Khashoggi’s killing and the location of his remains.
FRANCE DOESN’T RULE OUT SANCTIONS
France doesn’t rule out any sanction against Saudi Arabia if its authorities are found to have been involved in the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, French Foreign Minister JeanYves Le Drian said on Wednesday. “We’ll take the necessary measures against those who are responsible,” Le Drian said, adding that France didn’t rule out any sanctions against Saudi Arabia,a large buyer of French arms.