NO MORE LIES
Saudis told: Come clean on journalist ‘chopped up in embassy’
SAUDI Arabia was last night facing mounting international pressure to come clean over the disappearance of exiled journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
As the kingdom failed to release any proof that the dissident left its consulate in Istanbul alive, the identities of an alleged 15-member assassination squad surfaced.
The team is said to include a Saudi special forces officer, members of the royal guard and a senior forensics expert. Another was named as Maher Mutreb, described online as a colonel in Saudi intelligence, stationed previously at the Saudi embassy in London for two years. Their identities emerged as:
US intelligence was said to have intercepted communications of Saudi officials discussing a plan to capture him;
Turkish investigators were examining CCTV showing the movements of the alleged hit squad;
It was revealed consulate staff were reportedly given the afternoon off on the day Mr Khashoggi went missing because of a ‘high level’ meeting;
Turkish officials claimed he was murdered on the orders of the royal court in a scene like ‘Pulp Fiction’ which included use of a bone saw;
US President Donald Trump said he had talked to Saudi authorities ‘at the highest level’ to demand answers;
The Spectator reported claims that Mr Khashoggi had been offered a role as an adviser if he returned to Saudi Arabia but had declined because of ‘moral and religious’ principles.
Mr Khashoggi vanished on October 2 after entering his country’s consulate to obtain official documents ahead of his marriage to his Turkish fiancee Hatice Cengiz. Turkish sources believe he was tortured, killed and dismembered. They said at the weekend they believed Mr Khashoggi was killed by a team sent to Istanbul and thought to consist of 15 Saudis.
Pro-government Turkish newspaper Sabah yesterday published the names and photographs of 15 nationals who flew in on the day of his disappearance. They allegedly arrived in Istanbul on board at least two private jets in the early hours of October 2 and checked into two five- star hotels – the Movenpick and the Wyndham.
CCTV released by Turkish TV showed a man believed to be Mr Khashoggi enter the consulate as well as a vehicle entering and leaving the building after he went inside. Footage also showed some of the Saudis arriving in Istanbul.
It is said some of the men went into the Saudi consulate before Mr Khashoggi. According to the images, a vehicle that went inside the consulate was then driven to the consul-general’s residence nearby, around two hours after Mr Khashoggi had gone in.
Askam newspaper speculated it was ‘almost certain’ that Mr Khashoggi had been taken in the vehicle. Media also reported the possibility Mr Khashoggi was taken aboard one of the private planes. Both aircraft later returned to Riyadh with one stopping in Dubai and the other in Egypt, it was claimed.
Sabah published the names and images of what it called the ‘ assassination team’. Two appeared to be members of the Saudi royal guard, pictured in a photograph next to Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman.
Police were seen entering the consulate yesterday but it is understood the Saudis rescinded an offer to allow forensic experts onto the premises after details of the Saudi identities emerged.
Riyadh has insisted Mr Khashoggi, 59, left the building alive and murder claims are ‘baseless’. It says CCTV at the consulate were not working on the day in question.