Alleged Saudi hit squad linked to disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi
TURKEY - Saudi special forces officers, intelligence officials, national guards and a forensics expert were allegedly among a fifteenperson team tied to the disappearance in Istanbul of the highprofile dissident Jamal Khashoggi, it has been reported by Turkish pro-government papers.
The details of the alleged hit squad were listed on flight manifests leaked to Turkish media on Tuesday night. Social media profiles of some of the alleged suspects link them to elite arms of the Saudi security apparatus. Jamal Khashoggi is one of the Arab world’s most prominent journalists and commentators. He is an outspoken critic of Saudi Arabia who has dared to defy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto ruler. While living in Saudi Arabia, Khashoggi was told to stop writing or posting on Twitter, where he has more than 1.6 million followers. He moved to the US more than a year ago, where he continued to comment on his country both in print and on television. He wrote columns for the Washington Post and the Guardian. His message struck a nuanced tone in the US, where he tried to acknowledge the reforms undertaken by Bin Salman while also highlighting the flaws. Khashoggi previously had close links with the Saudi royal family, including having served as a media aide to Prince Turki al-Faisal, when the latter was director general of the Saudi intelligence agency. He is also a former editor of the Saudi newspaper al-Watan and had worked with Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, a grandson of the first Saudi king who was detained last year as part of what the authorities said was an anti-corruption campaign. The revelation comes amid a claim that the Saudi team that flew to Turkey brought with it a bone saw to dismember Khashoggi. “It was like Pulp Fiction”, a Turkish official told the New York Times. Suggestions that Khashoggi was killed and his body then mutilated have gained wide circulation in the week since he vanished, and Turkish officials continue to insist he met a brutal fate when he stepped through the doors of the diplomatic mission.
(The Guardian)