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In this
image
made
from a
March
2018
video
provided
by
Metafora
Production,
Jamal
Khashoggi
speaks
during
an
interview
at an
undisclosed
location.
Eighteen
days
after
Khashoggi
disappeared,
Saudi
Arabia
acknowledged
early
Saturday,
Oct. 20,
2018,
that the
59-year-old
writer
has died
in what
it said
was a
"fistfight"
inside
the
Saudi
consulate
in
Istanbul.
(Metafora
Production
via AP)
(Metafora
Production
via AP) |
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Saudi
account
of
Khashoggi
killing
is
widely
denounced
By
CHRISTOPHER
TORCHIA,
ZEYNEP
BILGINSOY
and
SARAH EL
DEEB
APNews.com
ISTANBUL
- Turkey
will
“never
allow a
cover-up”
of the
killing
of Saudi
journalist
Jamal
Khashoggi
in Saudi
Arabia’s
consulate
in
Istanbul,
a senior
official
in
Turkey’s
ruling
party
said
Saturday,
reflecting
international
skepticism
over the
Saudi
account
that the
writer
died
during a
“fistfight.”
The
comment
was one
of many
critical
reactions
to the
Saudi
Arabia’s
announcement
of the
writer’s
violent
death,
indicating
the
kingdom’s
efforts
to
defuse a
scandal
that has
gripped
the
world
were
falling
short.
U.S.
President
Donald
Trump,
however,
was an
exception.
Asked
whether
he
thought
the
Saudi
explanation
was
credible,
he
replied:
“I do. I
do.”
Despite
widespread
outrage
over the
killing
of the
columnist
for The
Washington
Post, it
is
unclear
to what
extent
the top
leadership
of Saudi
Arabia,
a key
U.S.
ally and
a
powerful
player
in a
volatile
region,
would be
held
accountable
for what
human
rights
activists
describe
as an
extrajudicial
killing
by Saudi
agents.
The
only way
to find
out what
happened
would be
through
an
international
investigation
led by a
U.N.-appointed
panel,
the
editorial
board of
The
Washington
Post
said.
Saudi
Arabia’s
“latest
version
asks us
to
believe
that Mr.
Khashoggi
died
after
becoming
engaged
in a
“brawl”
with
officials
who had
been
sent to
meet
him. His
body,
Saudi
officials
told
several
journalists,
was
handed
over to
a “local
collaborator”
for
disposal,”
it said,
while
also
criticizing
Trump
for
allegedly
trying
to help
top
Saudi
leaders
escape
“meaningful
accountability.”
Saudi
Arabia
said 18
Saudi
suspects
were in
custody
and
intelligence
officials
had been
fired.
But
critics
believe
the
complex
scheme
that led
to
Khashoggi’s
death
could
not have
occurred
without
the
knowledge
of
Mohammed
bin
Salman,
the
33-year-old
crown
prince
whose
early
promises
of
sweeping
reform
are
being
eclipsed
by
concerns
that he
is an
impulsive,
even
sinister
figure.
The
Saudi
narrative
of
Khashoggi’s
death,
alleged
to have
occurred
in a
brawl
following
discussions
with
visiting
officials
in the
consulate,
contrasts
with
Turkish
pro-government
media
reports
that a
Saudi
hit
squad,
including
an
autopsy
expert,
traveled
to
Istanbul
to kill
Khashoggi
and
dispose
of his
body,
which
has not
yet been
found.
“It’s
not
possible
for the
Saudi
administration
to
wiggle
itself
out of
this
crime if
it’s
confirmed,”
said
Numan
Kurtulmus,
deputy
head of
Turkey’s
Justice
and
Development
Party.
He also
said
Turkey
would
share
its
evidence
of
Khashoggi’s
killing
with the
world
and that
a
“conclusive
result”
of the
investigation
is
close.
Another
Turkish
ruling
party
official
also
criticized
Saudi
Arabia,
saying
the
kingdom
should
have
given
its
explanation
“before
the
situation
reached
this
point.”
The
official,
Leyla
Sahin
Usta,
said it
would
have
been
“more
valuable”
if Saudi
officials
had
earlier
admitted
that
Khashoggi
was
killed
in its
diplomatic
post.
Saudi
Arabia
initially
denied
any
knowledge
of the
disappearance
of
Khashoggi,
who
disappeared
after
entering
its
consulate.
The
overnight
admission
that the
writer
died in
the
consulate
came in
Saudi
state
media
more
than two
weeks
after
Khashoggi,
59,
entered
the
building
for
paperwork
required
to marry
his
Turkish
fiancée
and
never
came
out. The
kingdom
has
described
assertions
in
Turkish
media
leaks,
based on
purported
audio
recordings
that
Khashoggi
was
tortured,
killed
and
dismembered
inside
the
consulate,
as
“baseless.”
In
firing
officials
close to
Prince
Mohammed,
Saudi
Arabia
stopped
short of
implicating
the
heir-apparent
of the
world’s
largest
oil
exporter.
King
Salman,
his
father,
appointed
him to
lead a
committee
that
will
restructure
the
kingdom’s
intelligence
services
after
Khashoggi’s
slaying.
No major
decisions
in Saudi
Arabia
are made
outside
of the
ultraconservative
kingdom’s
ruling
Al Saud
family.
Khashoggi,
a
prominent
journalist
and
royal
court
insider
for
decades
in Saudi
Arabia,
had
written
columns
critical
of
Prince
Mohammed
and the
kingdom’s
direction
while
living
in
self-imposed
exile in
the U.S.
“God
have
mercy on
you my
love
Jamal,
and may
you rest
in
Paradise,”
Khashoggi’s
fiancée,
Hatice
Cengiz,
tweeted
following
the
Saudi
announcements.
U.N.
Secretary-General
Antonio
Guterres
“stresses
the need
for a
prompt,
thorough
and
transparent
investigation
into the
circumstances
of Mr.
Khashoggi’s
death
and full
accountability
for
those
responsible,”
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric
said.
Standing
outside
the
Saudi
consulate
in
Istanbul,
the head
of a
media
group
said the
“authority
that
gave the
orders”
in the
killing
of
Khashoggi
should
be
punished.
Turan
Kislakci,
president
of the
Turkish
Arab
Media
Association,
said
Khashoggi
was
“slaughtered
by
bloody
murderers”
and that
his
group
wants
“true
justice”
for its
slain
colleague.
White
House
press
secretary
Sarah
Huckabee
Sanders
said the
U.S.
will
advocate
for
justice
in the
Khashoggi
case
that is
“timely,
transparent
and in
accordance
with all
due
process.”
Trump
has
called
the
Saudi
announcement
a “good
first
step,”
but said
what
happened
to
Khashoggi
was
“unacceptable.”
The
Saudi
announcements
about
Khashoggi
came in
statements
carried
by the
state-run
Saudi
Press
Agency
early
Saturday.
“Preliminary
investigations
conducted
by the
Public
Prosecution
showed
that the
suspects
had
traveled
to
Istanbul
to meet
with the
citizen
Jamal
Khashoggi
as there
were
indications
of the
possibility
of his
returning
back to
the
country,”
the
statement
read.
“Discussions
took
place
with the
citizen
Jamal
Khashoggi
during
his
presence
in the
consulate
of the
kingdom
in
Istanbul
by the
suspects
(that)
did not
go as
required
and
developed
in a
negative
way,
leading
to a
fistfight.
The
brawl
led to
his
death
and
their
attempt
to
conceal
and hide
what
happened.”
There’s
been no
indication
Khashoggi
had any
immediate
plans to
return
to the
kingdom.
The
Saudi
statements,
which
expressed
regret
and
promised
accountability,
did not
identify
the 18
Saudis
being
held by
authorities
and did
not
explain
how so
many
people
could
have
been
involved
in a
fistfight.
The
kingdom
at the
same
time
announced
the
firing
of four
top
intelligence
officials,
including
Maj.
Gen.
Ahmed
bin
Hassan
Assiri,
a
one-time
spokesman
for the
Saudi
military’s
campaign
in Yemen
who
later
became a
confidant
of
Prince
Mohammed.
Saud
Qahtani,
a
powerful
adviser
to the
prince,
also was
fired.
Qahtani
had led
Saudi
efforts
to
isolate
Qatar
amid a
boycott
of the
country
by the
kingdom
and
three
other
Arab
nations
as part
of a
political
dispute.
On
Twitter,
where
Qahtani
had
launched
vitriolic
attacks
against
those he
saw as
the
kingdom’s
enemies,
he
thanked
the
Saudi
government
for the
opportunity
to
serve.
“I
will
remain a
loyal
servant
to my
country
for all
times,”
he
wrote.
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