SAUDI ACCOUNT OF KILLING OF JOURNALIST DENOUNCED
US and European leaders on Saturday pushed Saudi Arabia for more answers about Jamal Khashoggi after Riyadh changed its story and acknowledged that the journalist was killed more than two weeks ago at its consulate in Istanbul.
Saudi Arabia said early on Saturday that Khashoggi, a critic of the country’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, had died in a fight inside its consulate.
Germany called that explanation “inadequate” and questioned whether countries should sell arms to Saudi Arabia, while France and the European Union urged an in-depth investigation to find out what happened to The Washington Post columnist after he entered the consulate on Oct. 2 for documents for his marriage.
Turkish officials suspect Khashoggi, 59, a Saudi national and US resident, was killed inside the consulate by a team of Saudi agents and his body cut up.
Int’l outrage
The Khashoggi case has caused international outrage and frayed political and business ties between Western powers and Saudi Arabia, a staunch US ally and world’s No. 1 oil exporter.
Asked during a trip to Nevada if he was satisfied that some Saudi officials had been fired over Khashoggi’s death, US President Donald Trump said: “No, I am not satisfied until we find the answer. But it was a big first step, it was a good first step. But I want to get to the answer.”
In an interview with The Washington Post, Trump said that “obviously there’s been deception, and there’s been lies.”
Trump’s comments about the Khashoggi case in recent days have ranged from threatening Saudi Arabia with “very severe” consequences to making more conciliatory remarks in which he played up the coun- try’s role as a major purchaser of US arms and an ally against Iran and Islamist militants.
He earlier called the Saudi narrative of what happened to Khashoggi credible.
No evidence to back claim
Riyadh provided no evidence on Saturday to support its account and made no mention of what had become of Khashoggi’s body.
As Saudi Arabia faced intensifying international skepticism over its story, a senior Saudi official laid out a new version of the death in which a team of 15 Saudi nationals sent to confront Khashoggi had threatened him with being drugged and kidnapped and then choked him when he resisted.
A member of the Saudi team then dressed in Khashoggi’s clothes to make it appear he had left the consulate, according to the Saudi official.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian called for a full investigation into the killing.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in a joint statement with her foreign minister, said the Saudi account was not enough.
Lack of consistency, credibility
“Weexpect transparency from Saudi Arabia about the circumstances of his death ... The information available about events in the Istanbul consulate is inadequate,” said Merkel and German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, who also called into question the sale of arms to Saudi Arabia.
Canada’s Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said Riyadh’s explanations lacked consistency and credibility.
Trump said it was possible that Prince Mohammed had been unaware of the circumstances around Khashoggi’s death.
For Western allies, a main question will be whether they believe that the crown prince, who has painted himself as a reformer, has any culpability. King Salman, 82, had handed the day-to-day running of Saudi Arabia to him.
Trump, who has forged close ties with Saudi Arabia and the crown prince, said he was concerned that it was unclear where the journalist’s body was.
Search for body
According to the senior Saudi official, the Saudi team rolled up Khashoggi’s body in a rug, took it out in a consular vehicle and handed it to a “local cooperator” for disposal.
One of the operatives then donned Khashoggi’s clothes, eyeglasses and Apple watch, and left through the back door of the consulate in an attempt to make it look like Khashoggi had walked out of the building, said the senior Saudi official.
Turkish investigators are likely to find out what happened to the corpse “before long,” a senior Turkish official said earlier on Saturday.
Officials earlier told Reuters that Khashoggi’s remains may have been dumped in Belgrad Forest adjacent to Istanbul or at a rural location near the city of Yalova, 90 kilometers south of Istanbul.
Audio recording
Turkish sources say the authorities have an audio recording purportedly documenting Khashoggi’s murder inside the consulate.
A Turkish newspaper, citing the audio, said the torturers cut off the journalist’s fingers during interrogation and later beheaded him.
Trump said no one from his administration had seen the video or a transcript of what happened inside the consulate.
Saudi Arabia had previously denied Khashoggi died in the consulate.
But the Saudi public prosecutor said on Saturday that a fight broke out between Khashoggi and people who met him in the building, leading to his death.
Eighteen Saudi nationals had been arrested, the prosecutor said.
King Salman intervenes
Saudi state media said King Salman had ordered the dismissal of five officials, including Saud al-Qahtani, a royal court adviser seen as the righthand man to Prince Mohammed, and Ahmed Asiri, the Saudi deputy intelligence chief.
The crisis prompted the king to intervene, five sources with links to the Saudi royal family told Reuters.
The king also ordered Crown Prince Mohammed to restructure the intelligence service, suggesting the latter still retained wide-ranging authority.
Qahtani, 40, rose to prominence after latching onto the crown prince, becoming a rare confidant in his inner circle.
Sources say Qahtani would regularly speak on behalf of the crown prince and give direct orders to senior officials, including those in the security apparatus.