Saudis admit reporter was killed in consulate fight

JAMAL Khashoggi, the journalist who disappeared after visiting Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul, is dead, Saudi state television has reported.

Mr Khashoggi visited the consulate on October 2 and was pictured entering the building though he did not leave.

The Saudi state-run news agency has quoted prosecutors as saying that Mr Khashoggi was killed in the Saudi Consulate in a fight. The news comes as reports claiming the suspected hit squad behind the killing came to Britain during the Saudi crown prince’s state visit.

Mohammed bin Salman was given the red carpet treatment during a three-day visit in March during which he met the Queen and Prime Minister Theresa May despite widespread protests over the Gulf state’s human rights record.

At least three of the suspects, First Lieutenant Dhaar Ghalib Dhaar Al-Harbi, Sergeant Major Walid Abdullah Al-Shihri and Abdul Aziz Muhammad Musa Al-Hawsawi, were part of the crown prince’s entourage, the news site Middle East Eye reported.

Another suspect, Major General Mahir Abdul Aziz Muhammad Mutrib, was seen emerging from a car in Downing Street during the visit, according to the Daily Mail.

Earlier Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the Government remained “extremely concerned” about the fate of Mr Khashoggi and warned there said there would be “consequences” for Britain’s relationship with the kingdom if it was found the missing journalist was murdered by the Saudis.

His warning came as former MI6 chief Sir John Sawers said “all the evidence” suggested the journalist had been murdered on the orders of someone close to the kingdom’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

He said he did not believe the prince would have acted in the way he did unless he believed he had been given “licence” to do so by the US administration of Donald Trump.

Turkish government sources have alleged that Mr Khashoggi — a persistent critic of the prince and the Saudi government — was tortured, murdered and his body dismembered by a hit squad flown in from Riyadh.

The Saudis had dismissed the claims as baseless, but had not provided an explanation as to what happened to him after he entered the consulate.