Saudis ‘planned’ to murder journalist
JAMAL Khashoggi was strangled as soon as he entered Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul then his body was dismembered and disposed of, a senior Turkish official said yesterday.
The first government statement regarding the Saudi journalist’s death confirmed that the murder was “premeditated”, said Istanbul’s chief prosecutor Irfan Fidan.
Turkey is now demanding to know where the body is.
Mr Fidan said: “In accordance with plans made in advance, the victim Jamal Khashoggi was strangled to death immediately after entering the Consulate General of Saudi Arabia.
“The victim’s body was dismembered and destroyed following his death by suffocation.”
Criticism
The statement came as Jeremy Hunt defended the UK against criticism for its arms sales to the Arab nation.
The Foreign Secretary said that Britain had to be “considered” in its response over the Khashoggi case because of commercial interests and to protect British jobs in the weapons industry.
In a separate case, police in New York are investigating the deaths of two sisters from Saudi Arabia.
The bodies – bound together with tape – were found on the bank of the Hudson River last week.
Their mother told detectives that she had received a call from an official at the Saudi Arabian embassy, the day before the discovery, ordering the family to leave the US because her daughters had applied for political asylum. Kate with the museum’s Diane Lees views a poppy display. From far left, her great-greatuncles Maurice, Francis and Lionel Lupton, who were all killed on the Western Front