The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Saudi must face its ‘responsibility’
Turkey’s justice minister has renewed a call on Saudi Arabia to co-operate in the investigation into the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, saying “no one can escape responsibility”.
Abdulhamit Gul said that Saudi Arabia’s top prosecutor – who spent three days in Istanbul as part of joint TurkishSaudi efforts to investigate the killing – had failed to answer Turkish investigators’ questions about the location of the writer’s remains as well as who ordered the killing.
“We expect these questions to be answered swiftly,” Mr Gul said.
“No one can escape responsibility. This issue has become a world matter. It is not an issue that can be covered up.”
He added: “We want the Saudi authorities to enter into close co-operation with us. They have to support [the probe] so that the entire incident is brought to light.”
Istanbul’s chief prosecutor announced on Wednesday that The Washington Post columnist was strangled immediately after he entered the consulate on October 2 to collect a document he needed to marry his Turkish fiancee.
His body was dismembered and removed from the consulate, the prosecutor’s office stated, adding that the killing was premeditated.
Turkey is seeking the extradition of 18 suspects who have been detained in Saudi Arabia so that they can be put on trial in Turkey.