Saudi official: Khashoggi killed in chokehold while resisting

HIS BODY WAS ROLLED UP IN RUG AND GIVEN TO ‘LOCAL COOPERATOR’ FOR DISPOSAL

Asenior Saudi government official laid out a detailed new version of how journalist Jamal Khashoggi died inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

The latest account, provided by a Saudi official who requested anonymity, includes details of how the team of 15 Saudi nationals sent to confront Khashoggi on October 2 had threatened to drug and kidnap him, then killed him in a chokehold when he resisted.

A member of the team then dressed up in Khashoggi’s clothes to make it appear as if he had left the consulate.

Saudi Arabia on Saturday said he had died in a fistfight at the consulate. An hour later, another Saudi official attributed the death to a chokehold, which the senior official reiterated.

Turkish officials suspect Khashoggi’s body was cut up, but the Saudi official said it was rolled up in a rug and given to a “local cooperator” for disposal. Asked about allegations that Khashoggi had been tortured and beheaded, he said preliminary results of the investigation did not suggest that. The Saudi official presented what he said were Saudi internal intelligence documents, which appeared to show the initiative to bring back dissidents as well as the specific one involving Khashoggi.

He also showed testimonies from those involved in what he described as the 15-man team’s cover-up, and the initial results of an internal probe.

This narrative is the latest Saudi account. Asked by Reuters why the government’s version of Khashoggi’s death kept changing, the official said the government’s initial account was based on “false information reported internally at the time.”

“Once it became clear these initial mission reports were false, it launched an internal investigation and refrained from further public comment,” the official said, adding that the investigation is continuing.

Plan to bring back

According to the latest version, the government wanted to convince Khashoggi, who moved to Washington a year ago fearing reprisals for his views, to return to the kingdom as part of a campaign to prevent Saudi dissidents from being recruited by the country’s enemies.

To that end, the official said, the deputy head of the General Intelligence Presidency, Ahmad Al Assiri, put together a 15-member team from the intelligence and security forces to go to Istanbul, meet Khashoggi at the consulate and try to convince him to return to Saudi Arabia.

“Al Assiri is the one who formed the team and asked for an employee who worked with (Saud) Al Qahtani and who knew Jamal from the time they both worked at the embassy in London,” he said. The plan was to hold Khashoggi in a safe house outside Istanbul for “a period of time” but then release him if he ultimately refused to return to Saudi Arabia, the official said.

Things went wrong from the start as the team overstepped their orders and employed violence, the official said. Khashoggi was ushered into the consul general’s office, where an operative named Maher Mutreb spoke to him about returning to Saudi Arabia.

Khashoggi refused, telling Mutreb that someone was waiting outside for him and would contact the Turkish authorities if he did not reappear within an hour, the official said.

Back inside the consul’s office, the official says, Khashoggi told Mutreb he was violating diplomatic norms and said, “What are you going to do with me? Do you intend to kidnap me?” Mutreb replied, “Yes, we will drug you and kidnap you,” in what the official said was an attempt at intimidation that violated the mission’s objective.

When Khashoggi raised his voice, the team panicked. To restrain him, they placed him in a chokehold and covered his mouth, according to the government account. “They tried to prevent him from shouting but he died,” the official said. The intention was not to kill him.”

Al Jubeir’s comments

Meanwhile, speaking to Fox News, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al Jubeir said the 18 people implicated in his slaying would be punished appropriately, and that he didn’t know where the body was. “The individuals did this out of the scope of their authority,” he said, adding that none of those involved in Khashoggi’s death had close ties to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman. “This was ... a rogue operation. We are determined to uncover every stone. We are determined to find out all the facts and ... punish those who are responsible for this murder.”

Gen. Al Assiri is the one who formed the team and asked for an employee who worked with (Saud) Al Qahtani and who knew Jamal from the time they both worked at the embassy in London.” Unnamed Saudi official