Khashoggi ‘strangled, cut up’

A Saudi hit squad strangled Jamal Khashoggi immediately after he entered the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul and then dismembered his body according to a detailed plan, the Turkish prosecutor said yesterday.

The statement is the first official version of how Khashoggi died, after weeks of gruesome leaks to the media that have pressured Saudi Arabia into changing its story several times.

Irfan Fidan, the Turkish prosecutor, said that Khashoggi was ‘‘strangled as soon as he entered the consulate’’ in line with ‘‘premeditated plans’’ and added: ‘‘The victim’s body was dismembered and destroyed following his death by suffocation, again, in line with advance plans.’’

Khashoggi disappeared on October 2 after entering the consulate to obtain routine paperwork allowing him to remarry. The Saudis offered a number of shifting explanations, initially claiming that he left the building unharmed. As the leaks mounted, officials eventually admitted that he had been killed there but said his death was an extradition attempt gone wrong and that his body had been wrapped in a rug and disposed of by a ‘‘local contractor’’.

Last week, Riyadh admitted that the evidence supported the suggestion that the murder was premeditated, as Turkish officials had insisted from the start. Adel al-Jubeir, the foreign minister, described the operation as rogue but described the international outrage over the murder as ‘‘hysterical’’,

The statement followed the departure of Saudi Arabia’s chief prosecutor from Istanbul after a three-day visit during which he failed to tell his Turkish counterparts the name of the ‘‘local contractor’’ charged with disposing of Khashoggi’s body or its location. Turkey has demanded that information, as well as the extradition of the 18 people Saudi Arabia has arrested in connection with the murder.

The brother of King Salman has flown back to Saudi Arabia from self-imposed exile in London after receiving guarantees of his safety, in what is being seen as a sign of the royal family closing ranks. Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz, who had not been seen in the country since a video of him criticising the king and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, known as MBS, went viral, was greeted by senior royals on his arrival in Riyadh early on Tuesday morning.

Saudi dissidents exchanged excited rumours that the prince had returned to challenge his nephew, whose promotion he opposed. Others close to the court, however, saw his return as evidence that the royal family was rallying round in response to the crisis and seeking to shore up the monarchy. ‘‘There is an appreciation that together we stand and divided we fall,’’ one senior member of the royal family told The Wall Street Journal. ‘‘There is a degree of fear and panic here.’’

Michael Stephens, research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, said that Prince Ahmed was likely to play a role in restructuring the royal household to dilute the crown prince’s power. ‘‘At most he’ll come back to add additional capacity in the system, assist other senior princes with taking on more responsibility and evening out power balances within the family.’’

Since becoming heir to the Saudi throne and its de facto leader, MBS has systematically dismantled the consensus system in the royal household, consolidating power and control over the security services. Two of his closest security aides, however, were removed for their alleged role in the killing.

‘‘There is an appreciation that together we stand and divided we fall. There is a degree of fear and panic here.’’ Senior member of theSaudi royal family