CIA boss full bottle on kill tape of MBS critic Khashoggi

CIA chief Gina Haspel is to provide the Five Eyes intelligence network with specific details of the Jamal Khashoggi murder.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman yesterday broke his silence on the murder of Jamal Khadhoggi at his “Davos in the desert’. Picture: AFP

The US and its allies, including Australia, are poised to condemn Saudi Arabia and impose punitive measures after CIA chief Gina Haspel provides Five Eyes intelligence network with specific ­details of gruesome murder of Jamal Khashoggi.

The Washington Post reported the CIA director had heard a seven-­minute tape-recording of the torture and killing of 59-year-old Khashoggi that took place inside the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul on October 2.

Ms Haspel had gone to Istanbul to review all of the available evidence, a visit that comes as Don­ald Trump hardens his rhetoric against a country that is both a key trading partner and strategic bulwark against Iran in the region.

Central to the US response will be the series of phone calls made from hit squad leader Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb to the office of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman immediately after the killing and whether it provides ­direct evidence of Mohammed’s involvement.

Australia will be privy to some of Ms Haspel’s intelligence, as will Five Eyes partners Britain, Canada and New Zealand.

The major arms suppliers to Saudi Arabia, the US and Britain have tried to distance lucrative arms sales from the diplomatic and political fallout of the murder.

Investigators have turned their attention to the deep well in the garden of the Saudi consul’s home, several hundred metres up the road from the consulate.

After prevarication by Riyadh, authorities have been given permission to search it as they continue the hunt for Khashoggi’s body. An earlier search of a diplomatic car found in a carpark uncovered clothes that are being tested for DNA.

Turkish officials also released images of Saudi diplomatic vehicles scouting the Belgrad Forest the day before the murder, reiterating Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s insistence the death was premeditated and a political killing.

Both the US and Britain have cancelled visas of the 15-man hit squad and three consulate officials, as well as several others believed to be involved.

Mr Trump had appeared to point the finger towards Mohammed in a Wall Street Journal interview: “Well, the prince is running things over there, more so at this stage. He’s running things, and so if anybody were going to be, it would be him.”

But Mohammed, known as MBS, spoke to Mr Erdogan and appeared relaxed when he ­addressed the Khashoggi death — which he called a heinous crime — for the first time at his ­investment conference on Wednesday. “Saudi Arabia is carrying out all of the legal procedures to investigate and present the guilty to trial,” he said to loud applause.

“Many are trying to take ­advantage of this painful incident to divide the two (Turkey and Saudi Arabia), but they won’t be able to do so.”

After changing their story about Khashoggi in the past few weeks from outright denials about his disappearance, Saudi Arabian officials have held firm on the latest line that the US-based dissident was accidentally killed while in a chokehold and his body disposed of by a Turkish collaborator.

It appears Saudi Arabia may be even willing to admit to trying to kidnap Khashoggi.

Mr Erdogan, for the second day running, kept up the pressure on Saudi Arabia: “We are determined not to allow a cover-up of this murder and to make sure all those responsible — from those who ordered it to those who carried it out — will not be allowed to avoid justice.’’

One of his advisers, Ilnur Cevik, wrote in the Yeni Birlik newspaper that at least five ­members of the execution team were Mohammed’s “right hands’’ and would not act without his knowledge.

“Even if US President Trump saves bin Salman, in the eyes of the world he is a questionable person with Khashoggi’s blood on his hands,” Mr Cevik said.

Germany is the first country to stop weapons sales to Saudi ­Arabia.