Saudi hitman ‘dressed in victim’s clothes and glasses to pretend he’d left embassy’
ONE of the Saudi hitmen dressed up in Jamal Khashoggi’s clothes to make it appear as if he had left Saudi Arabia’s Istanbul consulate, according to the country’s latest explanation.
A senior official said operative Mustafa Madani also wore the 59-yearold’s glasses and Apple watch and left through the back door.
He said the journalist had been placed in a chokehold during which he accidentally died – and then his body was smuggled out of the building in a rolled-up carpet.
On Friday the kingdom admitted Mr Khashoggi was dead after repeatedly claiming the high-profile critic of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had walked out of the consulate unharmed.
It said the journalist was killed in a ‘fist fight’ and that the government had fired five top officials and arrested 18 others as a result of the initial investigation.
Yesterday Saudi foreign minister Adel al- Jubeir told Fox News: ‘Unfortunately, a huge and grave mistake was made and I assure them that those responsible will be held accountable for this.’ He added: ‘We don’t know where the body is.’
It came after a senior Saudi official, who requested anonymity, contradicted previous explanations. He said the team of 15 Saudis sent to confront Mr Khashoggi on October 2 had threatened him with being drugged and kidnapped, and then killed him in a chokehold when he resisted.
Madani then donned Mr Khashoggi’s clothes, glasses and Apple watch before leaving the building to make it look like the journalist had left, it was claimed.
The body was then rolled up in a rug, taken out in a consular vehicle and given to a ‘local co- operator’ for disposal, he added. Forensic expert Salah Tubaigy tried to remove any trace of the incident, the official said.
Madani later went to the Sultanahmet district where he disposed of Mr Khashoggi’s belongings, it was claimed. Asked about claims the journalist had been tortured and beheaded, the official said preliminary results of the investigation did not suggest so. The government wanted to convince Mr 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 dissidents from being recruited by Saudi Arabia’s enemies, the official said. But things soon went wrong as the team overstepped their orders and quickly employed violence, he added.
It was claimed Mr Khashoggi told one of the men, Maher Mutreb, that 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 Mr Khashoggi raised his voice, the team panicked. They moved to restrain him, placing him in a chokehold and covering his mouth, according to the government’s account.
‘They tried to prevent him from shouting but he died,’ the official said. ‘The intention was not to kill him.’
Asked if the team had smothered Mr Khashoggi, the official explained: ‘If you put someone of Jamal’s age in this position, he would probably die.’
The official said the team then wrote a false report for superiors saying they had allowed Mr Khashoggi to leave once he warned that Turkish authorities could get involved.
The Saudi authorities initially dismissed reports that Mr Khashoggi had gone missing inside the consulate as false and said he had left the building soon after entering. When the Press reported a few days later that he had been killed there, they called the accusations ‘baseless’.
Turkish officials believe the Saudis may have dumped his remains in Belgrad Forest near Istanbul, and at a rural location near the city of Yalova, 55 miles south of Istanbul.
Yesterday Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he would reveal the ‘naked truth’ about the killing at a briefing tomorrow.
‘Body rolled up in a rug’