US to revoke visas of some Saudi officials

US secretary of state Mike Pompeo has said the Trump administration is revoking the visas of some Saudi officials implicated in the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Mr Pompeo announced the step at a State Department news conference.

Vice President Mike Pence said earlier that Mr Khashoggi’s death at Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, “will not go without an American response”.

The visa revocations are the first punitive measures taken by the administration against the Saudis since Mr Khashoggi disappeared after entering the consulate on October 2.

Visa records are considered confidential and Mr Pompeo did not say which or how many Saudi officials would have their visas revoked.

Saudi authorities have detained 18 people in connection with Mr Khashoggi’s death, which officials say was accidental despite Turkish allegations that Mr Khashoggi was intentionally killed.

Meanwhile, Turkey’s president has said Saudi officials murdered Mr Khashoggi after plotting his death for days.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan contradicted Saudi Arabia’s explanation that the writer was accidentally killed and demanded that the kingdom reveals the identities of all involved, regardless of their rank.

Mr Erdogan also said he wants Saudi Arabia to allow 18 suspects that it detained for the Saudi’s killing to be tried in Turkish courts. The Saudi government has said it is conducting its own investigation and will punish those involved.

“To blame such an incident on a handful of security and intelligence members would not satisfy us or the international community,” Mr Erdogan said in a speech to ruling party MPs in parliament.

“Saudi Arabia has taken an important step by admitting the murder. As of now we expect of them to openly bring to light those responsible - from the highest ranked to the lowest - and to bring them to justice,” the Turkish president said.

Mr Erdogan’s speech was previously pitched as revealing the “naked truth” about Mr Khashoggi’s death.

Instead it put a named source to information already circulated by anonymous officials and the Turkish press in the days since the columnist for The Washington Post walked into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

However, he kept pressure on the kingdom with his demands for Turkish prosecution of the suspects as well as punishment for the plot’s masterminds.

“All evidence gathered shows that Jamal Khashoggi was the victim of a savage murder. To cover up such a savagery would hurt the human conscience,” Mr Erdogan said.

He did not mention Saudi Arabia’s assertive Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in his speech, though officials linked to the royal have been implicated in the killing.

The kingdom has said the heir-apparent of the world’s top oil exporter was not involved, but any major decision must be signed off by the highest powers within its ruling Al Saud family.

International scepticism has intensified since Saudi Arabia said on Saturday that Mr Khashoggi died in a brawl.