Is this arch-critic of Saudis arriving for his own death?
Last picture of journalist missing after entering Istanbul embassy
STRIDING towards the shabby-looking entrance to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, this is journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
According to police, the high-profile Saudi dissident and regime critic never emerged again – and it is feared he was tortured and murdered inside.
The footage of his last movements came as the inquiry into his disappearance threatened to escalate into a major diplomatic incident.
Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said he had met the Saudi ambassador to London to ‘seek urgent answers’ about the case. Bizarrely, the Saudis are claiming they had no working CCTV at the consulate on the day Mr Khashoggi vanished.
Mr Hunt tweeted: ‘Violence against journalists worldwide is going up and is a grave threat to freedom of expression. If media reports prove correct, we will treat the incident seriously – friendships depend on shared values.’
In an off-air interview with the BBC three days before he went missing, Mr Khashoggi denied being in opposition to the Saudi regime. He said: ‘People who get arrested are not even dissidents.
‘They just have an independent mind. Until now I don’t call myself an opposition. I always say I am a writer, I want a free environment to write and speak my mind.
‘I wish I had that platform [to speak freely] in my home.’
Asked when he thought he could go back home, he said: ‘I don’t think I will be able to go.’
Turkish authorities are now set to search the Saudi consulate. The CCTV image from a camera filming the entrance shows Mr Khashoggi entering at just before 1.15pm last Tuesday.
His fiancée Hatice Cengiz, 36, said she never saw him come back out again, despite waiting outside until after the consulate closed.
Turkish police sources have said they believe he was ‘brutally tortured, killed and cut into pieces’.
Turkish authorities are searching for a black van seen on CCTV being ‘loaded with boxes’, which they believe was used to transport Mr Khashoggi’s remains from the consulate. Officials said the van was part of a convoy of six cars, some with diplomatic number plates, which left the consulate grounds two hours after Mr Khashoggi went inside, according to the Guardian.
Saudi officials have said he left the building unharmed. They claimed no video cameras at the six-storey building were working on the day he went missing.
Footage obtained by police only shows him going in and not coming out, it is understood.
The Foreign Ministry said Saudi authorities had notified Ankara that they will allow the consulate building to be searched. Mr Khashoggi had gone to the consulate to obtain paperwork for his marriage to his Turkish fiancée.
Saudi Arabia says allegations it killed the 59-year-old are ‘baseless’ but has offered no evidence to show he left the building.
Speaking to the Washington Post, Miss Cengiz said she now feared for her own safety. She said security staff told her ‘there is no one inside’ when she inquired about her partner’s whereabouts.
Police said earlier that around 15 Saudis, including officials, arrived in Istanbul last Tuesday and were at the consulate at the same time as Mr Khashoggi.
They said the ‘death squad’ left the consulate in a convoy of cars – including the black van – and later flew back to Saudi Arabia.
The brother of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman said he had ‘regular contact’ with Mr Khashoggi before his disappearance.
He said he was a ‘friend’ and dismissed allegations that Saudi Arabia killed or detained him as ‘absolutely false and baseless’.
Mr Khashoggi, a former government adviser, has lived in selfimposed exile in the US since last year to avoid possible arrest.
‘There is no one inside’