Mystery surrounds Saudi journalist’s consulate disappearance
ISTANBUL: Mystery surrounded the whereabouts of a prominent Saudi critic yesterday after Riyadh announced he had left their consulate in Istanbul — but Turkey and his fiancee said he had not been heard from since entering the building.
Jamal Khashoggi, a contributor to the Washington Post, went to the Saudi consulate on Tuesday to receive an official document for his marriage.
His fiancee reported him missing after the journalist, who has lived in self-imposed exile in the US since last year to avoid possible arrest, was not seen to emerge.
The former government adviser, has been critical of some policies of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Riyadh’s intervention in the war in Yemen.
After an initial period of silence Saudi Arabia said the consulate was working with Turkish authorities “to uncover the circumstances of the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi after he left the consulate building” in a statement published Thursday by the staterun SPA news agency.
A senior Turkish official however said on Wednesday the journalist was being held at the consulate.
“According to information we have, this individual who is a Saudi national is still at the Istanbul consulate of Saudi Arabia,” presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin told reporters in Ankara.
He said the Turkish foreign ministry and police were closely monitoring the case, adding that Ankara was in touch with Saudi officials.
Khashoggi’s Turkish fiancee has been waiting outside the consulate since Wednesday morning.
“I haven’t received any news from him since 1pm (1000 GMT) on Tuesday,” 36-year- old Hatice, who would not give her family name, told AFP as she stood near barricades.
She said Khashoggi had left his mobile phone with her.
“We want to know his whereabouts. Where is Jamal?” she said. “We want him to come out of the consulate safe and sound.”
The US State Department said it was investigating the matter.
“We ... are very concerned about where he may be,” the Washington Post’s international opinions editor, Eli Lopez, said in a statement late Tuesday.
“It would be unfair and outrageous if he has been detained for his work as a journalist and commentator,” Lopez said. — AFP