Killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was ‘planned operation’ by a Saudi death squad of 18
IN A moment that’s stunned the world, the son of slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi has met with the man accused of plotting his father’s murder.
IT WAS one of the most haunting photo ops in living memory.
Jamal Khashoggi’s grieving son, Salah, was forced to stare down Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the primary suspect behind his murder.
Salah, who has reportedly been under a travel ban since last year, stared coldly into the eyes of the man accused of plotting his father’s murder as they shook hands at the Yamama Palace in Riyadh.
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The tense moment escaped no one’s attention on social media, with Twitter users commenting on how difficult the handshake must have been for the slain journalist’s son.
Spare a thought for Khashoggi's son, banned from leaving Saudi Arabia, who had to go and do this today pic.twitter.com/HyTA896LwF
— Tom Gara (@tomgara) October 23, 2018
Salah, Jamal Khashoggi’s son, who is banned from travel. They brought him to the royal court to accept condolences. The look on his face. This photo makes me want to scream and throw up. #JamalKhashoggi pic.twitter.com/0M3IYVT5FB
— Manal al-Sharif (@manal_alsharif) October 23, 2018
Per Saudi media, the king and crown prince met two of @JKhashoggi's relatives this afternoon. This photo of his son Salah and MbS is haunting. pic.twitter.com/tVHmc2wlvH
— Gregg Carlstrom (@glcarlstrom) October 23, 2018
Today, #JamalKhashoggi’s son Salah was forced to give the Crown Prince a photo op at the Royal Court. Look at his face. It’s important to note that Salah has been banned for over a year from leaving the Kingdom, he has not been able to mourn with his siblings who are US citizens. pic.twitter.com/lxKxaLHo7e
— Yashar Ali 😠(@yashar) October 23, 2018
Salah and Khashoggi’s brother Sahel were also greeted by Saudi King Salman, after the royals invited them to the palace to offer their condolences. The Saudi government insists the King and Crown Prince had no prior knowledge of the plan to kill Khashoggi.
The chilling meeting followed an address by Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who labelled the death a “savage murder” committed by a team of assassins who carefully planned the killing.
It comes as the body parts of slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi have reportedly been found and reveal “grisly detail” of how his face was disfigured.
The journalist’s remains were found in the garden of the Consul General’s home in Istanbul, Sky News reported, citing legal and political sources.
Donald Trump has also strengthened his language, on Tuesday afternoon calling the Saudi operation to kill Khashoggi “worst cover-ups in the history of cover-ups”.
Mr Erdogan said in his address that the remains had not been found, asking: “Why has the body of someone who was officially said to be killed not been found yet?”
Mr Erdogan told the Turkish parliament it was clear it was a premeditated and meticulously planned political assassination, where Saudi officials began plotting against Khashoggi in late September, days ahead of his disappearance after he entered the consulate in Istanbul on October 2.
Having promised to reveal the “naked truth” of a Saudi plot to kill the Washington Post columnist, Mr Erdogan said that a team including Saudi generals had flown in to carry out the mission.
The Saudi citizen had been a fierce critic of the leadership of Saudi Arabia, and in particular the Crown Prince.
He said the evidence collected so far shows Mr Khashoggi was murdered in “a ferocious manner”.
“To try and hide it would be an insult to humanity,” Mr Erdogan said in an address that was televised around the world. “Let’s not forget that this building is within the borders of the Republic of Turkey.”
He urged Saudi Arabia to reveal who ordered the “savage murder” at the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul and said the 18 Saudis suspected of carrying it out should be tried in Turkish courts.
Mr Erdogan’s comments contradicted Saudi accounts that Khashoggi died accidentally in a “fistfight” in the consulate — and for the first time the president also confirmed that a body double of Khashoggi was used as a decoy after he was killed.
Erdogan's speech about #JamalKhashoggi's murder fell well short of expectations. He didn't mention the apparent tape of the killing, or the video of hitmen carrying Khashoggi's body.
— Martin Chulov (@martinchulov) October 23, 2018
#Erdogan is no angel he wants to use the #Kashoggi incident to bolster his own profile.
— African Eskimo 🇿🇦 (@rushay) October 23, 2018
The Saudis & Trump wud not be changing their tunes if they believed #Erdogan lacked evidence. Sending CIA dir proves the panic. If they resume their doubts, Erdogan will lower the boom on them & leak the proof, as he's been doing.
— Tee Mack (@tmack894) October 23, 2018
However, he made no reference to any audio or video recordings, something that would be seriously damaging to the Saudi government.
He did not mention the Crown Prince, who some US politicians have speculated ordered the murder — but did speak of King Salman’s “sincerity” in the inquiry so far.
Mr Erdogan vowed Turkey would continue in its pursuit of the truth.
“From the person who gave the order, to the person who carried it out, they must all be brought to account.”
He demanded Saudi Arabia reveal who helped the killers - someone he called a “local cooperator” — who supposedly took Khashoggi’s remains away.
The president said three people secretly entered Turkey three days before the killing and scouted a forest near Istanbul — suggesting the trio may have been looking for a place to dump the body, according to a Guardian analysis.
His address came after more than two weeks of carefully orchestrated leaks to the media by Turkey that implicated the highest levels of the government of Saudi Arabia in the death of Khashoggi.
The last few hours of Khashoggi’s life have been revealed in images published by Turkish media outlets.
The Saudi journalist can be seen holding hands with Turkish fiancee Hatice Cengiz, as they visit the local marriage office and enter their apartment block in the hours leading up to his fatal visit to the consulate.
In the wake of his death, Ms Cengiz said she has been the subject of abuse from online Saudi trolls who have questioned the authenticity of their relationship.
“A severe smear campaign has been initiated in Saudi Arabia against myself,” she told Turkish daily newspaper Sabah on October 11, more than a week after her fiance disappeared. “This is being carried out by both Saudi-supported news agencies and (internet) trolls.
“This is, of course, quite saddening. Such reflexes alone show that there is much suspicion about the issue.”
The new photos and footage clearly show the couple holding hands as they leave the marriage office together.
The photos back up Ms Cengiz’s account that the couple had bought an apartment and intended to marry as soon as they received the appropriate paperwork from the Saudi consulate.
In a heartfelt New York Times piece which ran earlier this month, the doctoral student said the couple had been “cheerful” the morning they travelled to the consulate.
“We were going to browse appliances for our new home and meet with our friends and family members over dinner,” she wrote. “When we arrived at the consulate, he went right in. He told me to alert the Turkish authorities if I did not hear from him soon.”
She said the pair bonded over their “shared passion for democracy, human rights and freedom of expression” when they met at a conference in Istanbul.
“I had planned a party, inviting his closest friends to surround him with the love and warmth that he had missed,” she wrote. “We would have been married now.”
They took your bodily presence from my world. But your beautiful laugh will remain in my soul forever. My darling #jkhashoggi #JamalKhashoggi#JusticeForJamal pic.twitter.com/vJOfhL6dEq
— Hatice Cengiz / خديجة (@mercan_resifi) October 20, 2018
She also said Khashoggi saw himself as a “lonely patriot” who was “using his pen for the good of his country”.
Of the Saudi Government, she said: “If the allegations are true, and Jamal has been murdered by the errand boys of Mohammed bin Salman, he is already a martyr.
“Oppression never lasts forever,” she said. “Tyrants eventually pay for their sins.”
She also addressed reports Mr Trump is seeking to invite her to the White House, saying: “If he makes a genuine contribution to the efforts to reveal what happened inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul that day, I will consider accepting his invitation.”
Two nights ago, Ms Cengiz made a farewell tweet to her late partner, saying: “They took your bodily presence from my world. But your beautiful laugh will remain in my soul forever. My darling #jkhashoggi”.
KHASHOGGI’S ‘BODY DOUBLE’ LEAVES CONSULATE
Previously published satellite images showed Khashoggi walking into the Saudi consulate on October 2.
But he never came out.
A man appearing to wear Jamal Khashoggi’s clothes left the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul following his killing there, according to a new surveillance video, while a member of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s entourage made four calls to the royal’s office around the same time, reports said on Monday.
The reports by CNN and the Turkish daily Salah came just a day before Prince Mohammed’s high-profile investment summit is to begin in Riyadh and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has promised that details of Khashoggi’s killing “will be revealed in all its nakedness”.
Meanwhile, Turkish crime-scene investigators swarmed a garage on Monday night in Istanbul where a Saudi consular vehicle had been parked.
All this yet again adds to the pressure Saudi Arabia faces over the slaying of the Washington Post columnist.
The kingdom’s claim on Saturday that Khashoggi died in a “fistfight” met international scepticism and allegations of a cover-up to absolve the 33-year-old Crown Prince of direct responsibility.
Turkish media reports and officials maintain that a 15-member Saudi team flew to Istanbul on October 2, knowing Khashoggi would arrive for a document he needed to get married. Once he was inside the diplomatic mission, the Saudis accosted the journalist, cut off his fingers, killed and dismembered the 59-year-old.
CNN aired surveillance video on Monday showing a man apparently wearing Khashoggi’s dress shirt, suit jacket and pants.
It cited a Turkish official as describing the man as a “body double” and a member of the Saudi team sent to Istanbul to target him.
The man is seen in the footage walking out of the consulate via its back exit, then taking a taxi to Istanbul’s famed Sultan Ahmed Mosque, where he went into a public bathroom, changed back out of the clothes and left.
Later, the state-run broadcaster TRT also reported that a man who entered the consulate building was seen leaving the building in Khashoggi’s clothes. In the days after Khashoggi vanished, Saudi officials initially said that he had left the consulate, implying premeditation on the part of the Saudi team.
— with wires
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