Jamal Khashoggi had fingers chopped off during interrogation
Photographs reveal the man who oversaw the grisly murder of Jamal Khashoggi travelled extensively with the Saudi Crown Prince.
The grisly death of Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul was reportedly overseen by Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb, who travels extensively with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), the royal ruler who many suspect ordered Mr Khashoggi’s assassination.
Pictures have emerged of Mr Maher disembarking from airplanes with MBS in Paris and Madrid and standing guard during his visits this year to the US.
Another alleged member of the hit squad was trained in forensic medicine in Australia. Salah al-Tubaigy was flown into Istanbul as part of a 15 member Saudi hit squad to kill Mr Khashoggi and clean up after his death.
Dr al-Tubaigy, who dismembered Mr Khashoggi’s body, spent three months training at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine in 2015 a VIFM spokeswoman confirmed today.
Mr Khashoggi’s torture began shortly after he entered the consulate in Istanbul two weeks ago. It started with a beating and quickly escalated to his fingers being chopped off as the Saudis interrogated him.
According to new reports today, the dissident journalist died within minutes of the brutal attack in the office of the Saudi consul, Mohammad al-Otaibi, just after 1.15pm on October 2. According to the Wall Street Journal, the consul was present during the assassination.
Mr Khashoggi was then beheaded and his body dismembered with a bone saw as others in the room were encouraged to listen to music to drown out the noise of limbs being removed.
The grisly details of the journalist’s death have been reported in pro-government Turkish media based on an audio and video recording of the death.
Their release makes it more difficult for Saudi Arabia to describe Mr Khashoggi’s death as an interrogation gone wrong and appears intended to pressure the US to take a tougher stand over the murder.
Donald Trump said today the US had asked for a copy of the audio/video of Mr Khashoggi’s death ‘if it exists.’
“I’m not sure yet that it exists. It probably does. Possibly does. I’ll have a full report on that from (Secretary of State) Mike (Pompeo) when he comes back. That’s one of the things — that’s going to be the first question I ask him.”
The president said he wanted “to find out what happened and where is the fault,” in relation to the death of the US-based columnist with the Washington Post.
But both Mr Trump and Mr Pompeo today gave a strident defence of the scope and importance of the US relationship with Saudi Arabia, raising doubt that any signifiant punishment of the desert kingdom will be forthcoming over the Khashoggi affair.
“We are not going to walk away from Saudi Arabia, I don’t want to do that,” Mr Trump said in an interview with Fox Business Network.
The president hinted that if the king and the crown prince did not know about the murder then the US was unlikely to retaliate.
“I hope that the king and the crown prince didn’t know about it. That’s a big factor in my eyes,” Mr Trump said.
“Saudi Arabia has been a very important ally of ours in the Middle East.
“If you look at Saudi Arabia, they’re an ally and they’re a purchaser of military equipment among other things.
“We need Saudi Arabia,” the president said, referring to the kingdom’s role in helping target Iran’s influence in the region.
His comment contrasted with those of a few days earlier when he promised “severe punishment” for Saudi Arabia if it was found to have deliberately murdered Mr Kashoggi.
Mr Pompeo, who met today with Turkish President Recip Erdogan, also stressed the importance of the US-Saudi relationship.
“I do think it’s important that everyone keep in their mind that we have lots of important relationships — financial relationships between U.S. and Saudi companies, governmental relationships, things we work on together all across the world — efforts to reduce the risk to the United States of America from the world’s largest state sponsor of terror, Iran,” Mr Pompeo said. “The Saudis have been great partners in working alongside us on those issues …(which) are important elements of the US national policy that are in Americans’ best interests.
“We just need to make sure that we are mindful of that as we approach decisions that the United States Government will take when we learn all of the facts associated with whatever may have taken place.”
Mr Pompeo said the US would give the Saudi and Turkish Governments more time to complete their respective investigations to Mr Kashoggi’s fate.
His comments came amid reports that the 15-man Saudi hit squad was comprised of senior members of the Saudi Security services, including some members of the Crown Prince’s security detail.
Cameron Stewart is also US Contributor for Sky News Australia
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