Turkish police ‘found evidence’ of killing at consulate
Police searching the Saudi Consulate found evidence that Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi was killed there, a high-level Turkish official said, as the United States’ top diplomat flew to the country to discuss the probe.
The comment by the Turkish official to the Associated Press intensified pressure on Saudi Arabia to explain what happened to Khashoggi, who vanished on October 2 while visiting the consulate to pick up paperwork he needed to get married.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told journalists before leaving Riyadh that Saudi leaders, including King Salman and his son, the 33-year-old Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, “made no exceptions on who they would hold accountable”. “They made a commitment to hold anyone connected to any wrongdoing that may be found accountable for that, whether they are a senior officer or official,” Pompeo said.
However, no major decision is made outside of the ultraconservative kingdom’s ruling Al Saud family. Khashoggi also fled the country last year amid the rise of Prince Mohammed, whom he wrote critically about in the Washington Post.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump, who earlier warned of “severe punishment” if the kingdom was found culpable for Khashoggi’s appearance, criticised the global condemnation against the kingdom and compared it to the allegations of sexual assault levelled against nowSupreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearing.
“Here we go again with you’re guilty until proven innocent,” Trump told the AP in an interview.
That attitude does not appear to be shared by Congress, as one prominent Republican senator said he believed that the crown prince, widely known as MBS, had Khashoggi “murdered”. “This guy has got to go,” said Senator Lindsey Graham.
“Saudi Arabia, if you’re listening, there are a lot of good people you can choose, but MBS has tainted your country and tainted himself.”
Saudi officials have called Turkish allegations that a team of 15 Saudi agents killed Khashoggi “baseless”, but US media reports suggested that the kingdom may acknowledge the writer was killed at the consulate, perhaps as part of a botched interrogation.
Washington Post publisher and CEO Fred Ryan said the Saudi Government “owes the Khashoggi family and the world a full and honest explanation of everything that happened to him”. “The Saudi Government can no longer remain silent, and it is essential that our own Government and others push harder for the truth,” Ryan added.