Journalist told his friends not to worry

Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist whose writings had jabbed his country’s leaders, seemed at ease in the days before he disappeared after visiting Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul, unconcerned about being tracked by government spies.

In London, where he attended a conference, he shrugged off an offer to stay at a low-profile hotel, rather than one booked by the organisers.

Khashoggi seemed mostly focused on the future, his friend Azzam Tamimi said, talking about writing his third book and his upcoming wedding. Khashoggi told Tamimi about the appointment at the Saudi consulate in Turkey. He had to prove that he was divorced so that he could marry again.

“He said not to worry, he was very optimistic. He said he had been treated well in a previous visit to the consulate. He was welcomed warmly, very warmly, he said. They promised him his papers. He told me the staff at the consulate were just ordinary people. He wouldn’t have a problem.”

What happened after Khashoggi entered the consulate is a mystery. Over the past two days, Turkish officials have said they believe Saudi agents killed him shortly after he arrived. The allegations — including that a team of men was brought from Saudi Arabia to kill him — have reverberated around the world.

Saudi Arabia has vigorously denied the accusations, saying that Khashoggi left the consulate on his own. A Saudi spokesman pointed out that Khashoggi had visited the Saudi Embassy in Washington several times in the past. His friends say the cordial visits may have provided Khashoggi with a false sense of security.

But when he was preparing to enter the consulate, the excitement and optimism his friends had sensed in London had been replaced by nagging concern that something might happen while he was inside, his fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, said. He left his phone with Cengiz, along with instructions that she should call a senior Turkish official if he did not emerge within a few hours. “He was worried,” she said.