Journalist’s Apple Watch ‘recorded his murder by Saudis’

RECORDINGS on a missing journalist’s Apple Watch prove he was tortured and murdered by Saudi Arabia, it has been claimed.

Saudi national Jamal Khashoggi, a critic of the regime, vanished after visiting its consulate in Istanbul.

His watch reportedly synced with his iPhone, carried by his fiancee outside, and recorded video and audio inside the building.

The audio in particular is said to provide “persuasive, gruesome” evidence that assassins killed him.

It captured his screams as he was beaten then hacked to pieces, a Turkish newspaper said. “The moments when he was interrogated, tortured and murdered were recorded in the Apple Watch memory,” it reported. It said Saudi agents realised after Mr Khashoggi died that the watch was recording, then used his fingerprint to unlock it and delete some but not all files. These emerged later, it reported.

A Saudi delegation has arrived in Turkey for a joint probe. Turkish spies told investigators they eavesdropped on the October 2 killing. US President Donald Trump promised “severe punishment” for the Saudis if they did kill the Washington Post writer, 57.

Former Foreign Secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind demanded UK sanctions on Saudi Arabia. Riyadh said accusations it ordered Mr Khashoggi’s killing are “lies”.

KILLED Jamal Khashoggi