Saudi king and prince phone Khashoggi's son to give condolences
The Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman has called the son of Jamal Khashoggi to express condolences on the death of the journalist, who was killed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in disputed circumstances.
King Salman made a similar condolence call, the kingdom said early on Monday, as international pressure on the Saudis to provide an satisfactory account of what happened to Khashoggi continued to rise.
The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has said details of the Washington Post journalist’s killing “will be revealed in all its nakedness” in parliament on Tuesday, the same day a glitzy investment forum in Riyadh spearheaded by the crown prince is to take place.
Saudi Arabia’s admission on Friday – after weeks of denials – that Khashoggi was killed in a “fistfight” and that 18 Saudis have been detained – has been met with widespread scepticism and allegations of a cover-up designed to absolve Prince Mohammed of direct responsibility. Turkish media reports and officials say a 15-member Saudi team flew to Istanbul, lay in wait for Khashoggi at the consulate and then killed and dismembered him.
A pro-government Turkish newspaper reported on Monday that a member of Prince Mohammed’s entourage made four calls to the royal’s office from the consulate on the day of Khoshaggi’s death. The report by Yeni Safak cited no source for the information. The newspaper said the calls went to the head of the crown prince’s office, as well as a number in the US.
Five Turkish employees at the Istanbul consulate are giving statements as part of the investigation into the death, the Turkish broadcaster NTV reported. Twenty consulate workers, including the consul’s driver, gave statements to prosecutors in relation to the incident, NTV has reported previously. Prosecutors are seeking statements from a total of 45 employees, CNN Turk said.
The Turkish news agency Anadolu said on Sunday that Khashoggi’s fiancée, Hatice Cengiz, has been given 24-hour police protection. Khashoggi had gone to the consulate to arrange paperwork for their marriage.
The UK foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, spoke to the Saudi foreign minister, Adel al-Jubeir, on Sunday to convey the British view that the explanation provided was not entirely credible. And in his strongest comments to date on the case, the US president, Donald Trump, accused Saudi Arabia of lying about the death.
Jubeir said in a Fox News interview that Prince Mohammed knew nothing of any plan to kill Khashoggi and that the whereabouts of his body remained a mystery to Riyadh.
“This was an operation that was a rogue operation. This was an operation where individuals ended up exceeding the authorities and responsibilities they had,” Jubeir told Fox. “They made the mistake when they killed Jamal Khashoggi in the consulate and they tried to cover up for it.”
The phonecalls followed the publication of a leaked photograph apparently taken from surveillance footage showing Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb, a member of Prince Mohammed’s entourage on trips to the US, France and Spain this year, at the consulate, just ahead of Khashoggi’s arrival. Mutreb’s name also matches that of a first secretary who once served as a diplomat at the Saudi Embassy in London, according to a 2007 list compiled by the British Foreign Office.
Saudi Arabia so far has not acknowledged or explained Mutreb’s presence in Istanbul nor that of a forensics and autopsy expert, also on hand for Khashoggi’s arrival at the consulate on 2 October.
In another development on Sunday, images obtained by TRT World, a Turkish news channel that broadcasts in English, showed Khashoggi as he arrived at a police barrier before entering the consulate. The images, taken from security camera video, and not previously published, show the writer being searched before continuing toward the building.
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