Crown Prince ‘told journalist to return to Saudi in call minutes before he died’
Data trail leads to autocratic ruler’s door as kingdom admits it IS murder
The Saudi Crown Prince spoke to Jamal Khashoggi by phone to ask him to return to Riyadh minutes before the writer was murdered, it was claimed yesterday.
Mr Khashoggi was reportedly arrested by a 15- strong team of Saudi officials soon after entering the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul on October 2.
he allegedly spoke on the phone to 33-yearold Saudi ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who tried to convince the journalist to return to his home country.
Turkish news website Yeni Safak claims the writer refused, fearing he would be arrested and killed – and was then murdered in the consulate. It also emerged a hitman made seven calls to the Crown Prince’s private office on the day Mr Khashoggi was killed. Turkish intelligence agencies intercepted 14 phone calls by Major General Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb, a former diplomat who was once posted to Britain.
Seven of them were to the office of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman – the contents of which would be ‘explosive’ if leaked, a source claimed. Mutreb, who was pictured outside Downing Street in March during the Crown Prince’s state visit, was described as the ‘spinal cord’ of a Saudi death squad.
Last night a Turkish TV channel also claimed Saudi officials burned evidence in the garden of the consulate the day after Mr Khashoggi was killed. The allegations are yet further evidence that point the finger at Saudi Arabia’s de-facto ruler. It comes after a top Saudi minister admitted for the first time that journalist Mr Khashoggi was murdered in Istanbul.
he blamed a ‘rogue operation’ for the killing, which has sparked an international outcry and plunged the kingdom into a diplomatic crisis. A source told online news service Middle east eye that members of the hit squad sent Mr Khashoggi’s fingers back to Riyadh to prove the mission’s success and they were presented to the Crown Prince.
‘MBS [Mohammed bin Salman] always said that he will cut off the fingers of every writer who criticises him,’ the source said.
Mutreb reportedly spoke to Badr al-Asaker, head of the Crown Prince’s private office, four times after Khashoggi was killed.
Saudi and Turkish intelligence sources also claimed a Saudi royal aide directed the murder by giving orders over Skype. Saud AlQahtani, who ran social media for the Crown Prince, allegedly told a hit squad ‘bring me the head of the dog’. In another day of high drama yesterday, Foreign Secretary Jeremy hunt warned that members of the Saudi regime could face sanctions over the murder.
Condemning the ‘appalling brutality’, he said measures could ultimately include asset freezes and travel bans – which could target the Crown Prince himself. earlier, former foreign secretary Jack Straw said the killing could only have been ‘authorised at the highest level’. Mr Khashoggi, 59, was killed by a 15-strong assassination squad flown in from Riyadh on private jets. Saudi Arabia admitted for the first time on Friday that he had been killed, saying he had accidentally died after a ‘fist fight’, although hours later this was changed. Late on Sunday, foreign minister Adel al- Jubeir told Fox News the journalist was murdered, blaming a ‘rogue operation’. he said the act had been a ‘tremendous mistake’ and denied the Crown Prince had ordered the killing of Mr Khashoggi – a high-profile critic of the leader.
Mr al- Jubeir said: ‘We are determined to find out all the facts and we are determined to punish those who are responsible for this murder.’ he said officials did not know where the body was.
Mr Khashoggi’s body is said to have been rolled up in a rug and taken out in a consular vehicle. In a further development yesterday, police discovered an abandoned vehicle they believe belonged to the Saudi consulate. It was located in a private car park about ten miles away. A spokesman for Turkey’s ruling AK party yesterday said the murder was ‘monstrously planned’. President erdogan has said he will today reveal the ‘naked truth’ after weeks of denials by Saudi Arabia. his statement will come on the same day as the opening day of the so-called ‘Davos in the desert’ investment conference in Riyadh, which many officials have boycotted.
But in a fresh embarrassment for organisers, hackers targeted a website promoting the event and posted a mocked-up picture showing the Crown Prince standing over Mr Khashoggi with a bloody scimitar sword.