Hunt: Saudi ties at risk if journalist was murdered
JEREMY HUNT today warned there would be “consequences” fo r ties between Britain and Saudi Arabia if it is confirmed that journalist Jamal Khashoggi was brutally murdered.
He said that if proved, the alleged killing of Mr Khashoggi by a hit squad at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul would be “completely unacceptable” to the UK.
But the Foreign Secretary also signalled Britain’s response would be “considered” towards an ally in the fight against terrorism with which it has multi-billion-pound arms contracts.
Turkish officials believe Washington Post writer Mr Khashoggi, a Saudi national who was critical of Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, was tortured to death, with his fingers being chopped off.
Mr Hunt told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Let’s be absolutely clear, if the stories that we read about are true, and if you are asking me whether that will have consequences for the relationship with Saudi Arabia, then, yes, of course it will, because what is alleged to have happened is totally inconsistent with our values ... not just the brutality of it, if it happened, but also the fact that he was a journalist.
“Part of our reaction will depend on the Saudi reaction, and whether we sense that they are taking it as seriously as we are taking it. But this is a very, very serious matter. Our relationship with the Saudis is a strategic relationship as well. Our response will be considered ... [but] in the end, if these stories are true, we have to be absolutely clear, it would not be consistent with our values.”
Turkish police have expanded their search. Officials said Mr Khashoggi’s body may have been disposed of in Belgrad Forest north of Istanbul, and near Yalova, a city south of Istanbul.
A source said police had established that two vehicles belonging to the Saudi consulate left it on 2 October, the day Mr Khashoggi disappeared. He said one vehicle went to Belgrad Forest while the other travelled to Yalova. A “farmhouse or villa” may have been used for the disposal of remains, the official said.
Mr Khashoggi, who was living in exile in the US, had gone to the consulate to finalise paperwork for his divorce so he could marry Turkish fiancée Hatice Cengiz. She was waiting outside and did not see him leave. Samples taken from the consulate and consul’s residence earlier this week are being tested for a match with Mr Khashoggi’s DNA.
Turkey has said it has audio and video evidence of a murder, and believe his body was dismembered by a Saudi hit squad. Riyadh has denied the killing.
Overnight, there were fresh claims that a former Saudi diplomat in Britain, Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb, played a “pivotal role” in the alleged killing.
A Turkish source told CNN that Mutreb — who was first secretary at the Saudi embassy in London, and has been described as a colonel in Saudi intelligence — was aware of “the plot”. The source claimed Mutreb, who is closely connected to the crown prince, was one of 15 Saudi men involved in an assassination operation.
Four security camera images that purport to show Mutreb’s movements were published yesterday by Turkish newspaper Sabah. They apparently show him in Istanbul on 2 October.
Last night Donald Trump acknowledged it “certainly looks” as though Mr Khashoggi is dead, and he threatened “very severe” consequences if the Saudis were found to have murdered him.