Murder of newsman
Jamal Khashoggi, 59, was killed in October during a stop at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. The journalist, who had been severely critical of Saudi’s Crown Prince Mohammed Salman, went there in the late afternoon of Oct 2 to collect documents pertinent to his upcoming marriage to fiancée Hatice Cengiz — he never came out of the consulate building.
A CIA assessment had pointed out the Crown Prince as having ordered the killing.
On Dec 10, Fahrettin Altun – the communications director at the Turkish presidency – said it would be in the best interest of the international community to seek justice for the late journalist, under international law. The statement came following Riyadh’s refusal to allow extradition of two senior Saudi officials, suspected of being involved in the killing. The Instanbul prosecutor’s office was quoted earlier as having concluded that Saud al-Qahtani – a top aide to Prince Mohammed – and General Ahmed al-Asiri, who was the deputy head of foreign intelligence, were the key suspects who planned Khashoggi’s murder. However, Saudi’s Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir ruled out sending the two to Turkey for trial, stating: “We don’t extradite our citizens.”
It was Saudi’s public prosecutor who confirmed that Khashoggi was killed inside the consulate building ‘under orders of a rogue intelligence officer’. Turkish officials, however, disclosed that they had ‘all the evidence’ – including audio recording – that pointed at the journalist being killed by Saudi agents on orders that ‘came from the highest levels’.
Khashoggi’s remains have yet to be found.