Turkey ‘has audio, video proof’ of Jamal Khashoggi murder inside Saudi Consulate

Ankara has reportedly told the US it has audio and video proof that Jamal Khashoggi was killed inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.

Jamal Khashoggi with fiancée Hatice Cengiz.

The Turkish government has reportedly told US officials it has audio and video proof that Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was tortured and killed inside the Saudi Arabian Consulate in Istanbul.

As Turkish authorities prepared to search the residence of the Saudi consul general, the Washington Post reports that recordings obtained by Turkish officials show Mr Khashoggi was detained by a Saudi security team after entering the consulate two weeks ago, before being killed and dismembered.

Mr Khashoggi, journalist for The Washington Post, has not been seen since he went to the consulate to obtain divorce papers so he could marry his fiancee.

Saudi had consistently claimed he left the consulate by a back door but yesterday was reportedly preparing a report that would say he had died during an interrogation that went too far.

A source told The Post: “The voice recording from inside the embassy lays out what happened to Jamal after he entered.

“You can hear his voice and the voices of men speaking Arabic,” this person said. “You can hear how he was interrogated, tortured and then murdered.”

A second source told the newspaper men could be heard on the recording beating the journalist.

Separately, Turkish police searching the consulate say they have found evidence that Mr Khashoggi was killed there.

The revelations further intensify the pressure on Saudi Arabia to explain what happened to Mr Khashoggi, a former adviser to the Saudi royal family who had become critical of the government and of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Donald Trump said after a phone call with the crown prince that he “totally denied any knowledge of what took place in their Turkish Consulate.”

The crown prince “told me that he has already started, and will rapidly expand, a full and complete investigation into this matter. Answers will be forthcoming shortly,” Mr Trump said in a tweet.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo greets Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir after arriving in Riyadh. Picture: AFP.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo travelled to Saudi Arabia to talk to King Salman and the 33-year-old crown prince about Mr Khashoggi’s fate.

A prominent Republican senator said he believed that the crown prince, widely known as MBS, had Khashoggi “murdered.”

“This guy has got to go,” said Senator Lindsey Graham, on Fox television. “Saudi Arabia, if you’re listening, there are a lot of good people you can choose, but MBS has tainted your country and tainted himself.”

Saudi officials have called Turkish allegations that a team of 15 Saudi agents killed Khashoggi “baseless,” but Washington Post Publisher and CEO Fred Ryan said the Saudi government “owes the Khashoggi family and the world a full and honest explanation of everything that happened to him,

“The Saudi government can no longer remain silent, and it is essential that our own government and others push harder for the truth,” Mr Ryan added.

A high-level Turkish official said police found “certain evidence” of Mr Khashoggi’s slaying at the consulate. Police planned a second search at the Saudi consul general’s home, as well as some of the country’s diplomatic vehicles, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said. Leaked surveillance video show diplomatic cars travelled to the consul general’s home shortly after Mr Khashoggi went into the consulate. Consul General Mohammed al-Otaibi left Turkey Tuesday afternoon, state media reported, just as police began putting up barricades around his official residence. Saudi Arabia did not immediately acknowledge he had left or offer a reason for his departure.

Turkey had wanted to search the consulate for days. Permission apparently came after a late Sunday night call between King Salman and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Certain areas of the consulate were to remain off-limits, although officials would be able to inspect surveillance cameras, Turkish media reported.

Mr Erdogan told journalists police sought traces of “toxic” materials and suggested parts of the consulate had been recently painted, without elaborating.

In Riyadh, the crown prince told Mr Pompeo: “We are strong and old allies. We face our challenges together - the past, the day of, tomorrow.” Mr Pompeo was to have a dinner Tuesday night with Prince Mohammed and was expected to fly to Turkey on Wednesday.

Mr Trump previously warned of “severe punishment” for the kingdom if it was found to be involved in Mr Khashoggi’s disappearance. The warning drew an angry response from Saudi Arabia and its state-linked media, including a suggestion that Riyadh could wield its oil production as a weapon.

On Monday, however, Mr Trump offered a different theory after speaking by telephone with King Salman.

“It sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers,” he said. “I mean, who knows? We’re going to try getting to the bottom of it very soon, but his was a flat denial.”

With AP