Khashoggi is dead, admits Saudi
Kingdom says he died during a ‘ brawl,’ announces arrest of 18 Saudis 2 top aides of Crown Prince sacked
Riyadh, Oct. 20: Saudi Arabia admitted on Saturday that critic Jamal Khashoggi was killed inside its Istanbul consulate, saying he died during a “brawl”, an explanation that President Donald Trump called credible but drew scepticism from top US lawmakers.
Riyadh announced the arrest of 18 Saudis in connection with their investigation and the sacking of two top aides of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has faced mounting international pressure over the journalist’s disappearance.
Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributor and critic of the Islamic petro- state’s powerful crown prince, was last seen on October 2 entering his country’s consulate in Istanbul.
His disappearance had been shrouded in mystery and tipped Saudi Arabia into one of its worst international crises, with Turkish officials accusing it of carrying out a statesponsored killing and dismembering the body.
The admission -- after persistent claims by the Saudi authorities that Khashoggi had left the consulate alive -- came amid the threat of US sanctions and appears aimed at distancing Prince Mohammed from the affair. In the latest version of events from Riyadh, Saudi Attorney General Sheikh Saud al- Mojeb said Khashoggi died after talks at the consulate degenerated into an altercation. He did not disclose the whereabouts of the journalist’s body.
“Discussions that took place between him and the persons who met him... at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul led to a brawl and a fistfight with the citizen, Jamal Khashoggi, which led to his death, may his soul rest in peace,” the attorney general said in a statement.
The Saudi king also ordered the setting up of a ministerial body under the chairmanship of the crown prince to restructure the kingdom’s intelligence agency and “define its powers accurately”, state media said.
Deputy intelligence chief Ahmad al- Assiri and royal court media adviser Saud al- Qahtani, both part of Prince Mohammed’s inner circle, were sacked.
Saudi Arabia’s Gulf ally, the United Arab Emirates, welcomed the moves by the king.
Khashoggi’s Turkish fiancee Hatice Cengiz tweeted that her heart was “full of sorrow” at the confirmation of his death.
The controversy has put the kingdom -- for decades a key ally in Western efforts to contain Iran -under unprecedented pressure to offer an explanation to take the heat off its rulers.
It evolved into a major crisis for Prince Mohammed, a US administration favourite widely known as MBS, whose image as a modernising Arab reformer has been gravely undermined.
Saudi officials have roundly denied that Prince Mohammed had any involvement.
But one suspect identified by Turkey was said to be a frequent companion of the young heir to the throne, three others were linked to his security detail and a fifth is a highlevel forensic specialist, according to The New York Times.
The decision to overhaul the intelligence apparatus and sack members of the crown prince’s inner circle is designed to “distance the crown prince from the murder”, said analysis firm Eurasia Group.
In a recent off- the- record interview published posthumously by US magazine Newsweek, Khashoggi described the 33- year- old as “an old- fashioned tribal leader” out of touch with the Saudi poor.
But the onetime royal insider said he would have accepted an offer to work as the prince’s adviser.
“I’m not calling for the overthrow of the regime, because I know it’s not possible,” he said. “I’m just calling for reform of the regime.” Saudi Arabia’s admission comes after Turkish authorities widened their probe on Friday, searching a forest in Istanbul where the body might have been dumped.
Pro- government Turkish media have repeatedly claimed that Khashoggi was tortured and decapitated by a Saudi hit squad.
Meanwhile, an Istanbulbased journalists’ group on Saturday demanded punishment for those who ordered the killing of Khashoggi.
“We demand that not only the 18 men but those who commanded ( the killing) are punished,” said Turan Kislakci, head of the Turk- Arab Media Association ( TAM), of which Khashoggi was a member.
“There’s only one thing that matters right now. Give Jamal back to us. Give him back so that we can hold his funeral,” Kislakci told journalists outside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. “Let the whole world watch the funeral of Jamal Khashoggi, who was killed in a dark room in a horrific manner.”