Tapes show scribe decapitated: Daily Says sleuths tortured journalist before cutting off his fingers

Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was tortured before being decapitated inside Riyadh’s consulate in Istanbul, pro-government daily Yeni Safak reported on Wednesday, saying it had heard audio recordings.

Khashoggi’s alleged killers tortured the journalist during interrogation by cutting his fingers off, Yeni Safak said, claiming it had heard multiple recordings of the incident. The newspaper said Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributor, was then decapitated.

Khashoggi vanished after entering the consulate for official documents ahead of his upcoming wedding to his Turkish fiancee. While Turkish police believe he was killed by a special team of 15 Saudi officials, Riyadh has dismissed such claims as “baseless”. The Washington Post has previously cited unnamed US and Turkish officials pointing to audio and video recordings that prove Khashoggi was killed inside the consulate and was then dismembered. But this is the first time Turkish media has claimed to hear the tapes.

According to Yeni Safak, Saudi Arabia’s consul to Istanbul, Mohammed alOtaibi, can be heard on one tape saying during Khashoggi’s torture: “Do this outside. You are going to get me in trouble.” The daily reported that in another tape, an unknown individual tells Otaibi: “If you want to live when you come to Saudi, be quiet!” Yeni Safak did not say how the tapes came into existence or how it got them. Otaibi left Istanbul for Riyadh ahead of a planned search of his house as part of the official Turkish probe.