CCTV ‘shows Saudi operative in murdered journalist’s clothes’

A MAN appearing to wear Jamal Khashoggi’s clothes can be seen on surveillance video leaving the Saudi consulate in Istanbul after the journalist was killed there, according to reports.

The footage appeared after it emerged a member of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s entourage made four calls to his office from the consulate the day Mr Khashoggi disappeared, a Turkish newspaper reported.

The claim comes a day before Prince Mohammed’s high-profile investment summit begins in Riyadh.

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has promised to detail Mr Khashoggi’s killing “in all its nakedness”, raising international pressure on Saudi Arabia.

The kingdom’s claim on Saturday that Mr Khashoggi died in a “fist fight” was met with international scepticism and allegations of a cover-up to absolve the 33-year-old crown prince.

The man supposedly wearing the clothes of Jamal Khashoggi (inset left)

Turkish media reports and officials maintain that a 15-member Saudi team flew to Istanbul

on October 2, knowing Mr Khashoggi would arrive to pick up a document he needed.

Once he was inside the diplomatic mission, reports also claimed the Saudis accosted 59-year-old Mr Khashoggi, cut off his fingers, then killed and dismembered him.

CNN aired surveillance footage showing a man in Mr Khashoggi’s dress shirt, suit jacket and trousers. It cited a Turkish official as describing the man as a “body double” and a member of the Saudi team sent to Istanbul to target the writer.

The man is seen in the footage walking out of the consulate via its back exit with an accomplice, then taking a taxi to Istanbul’s famed Sultan Ahmed Mosque, where he went into a public toilet, changed back out of the clothes and left.

The state-run broadcaster TRT also reported that a man who entered the consulate building was seen leaving the building in Mr Khashoggi’s clothes.

The report in Yeni Safak said Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb, a member of Prince Mohammed’s entourage on trips to the United States, France and Spain this year, made the calls from the consulate.

The newspaper said the four calls went to the head of Prince Mohammed’s office.

It said another call went to the United States.

Pro-government newspapers have been leaking information about Mr Khashoggi’s killing, apparently with the help of Turkish security forces.