Turkish sources: journalist Jamal Khashoggi killed inside the Saudi consulate
Assassinated by a Saudi commando that arrived on the day of his disappearance from Riyadh, then dismembered. The authorities of the kingdom reject all charges. Security cameras show abnormal movement of cars around the consulate. Washington Post: "Huge and incomprehensible crime".
Istanbul (AsiaNews / Agencies) - As the days go by, concerns about the fate of Jamal Khashoggi, a journalist and Saudi intellectual, a critical voice of the government of Riyadh and of the Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman (Mbs), are increasing.
According to Turkey, he would have been killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, where he had gone to complete divorce proceedings; Riyah rejects every charge and ensures maximum cooperation. The only certainty is that there has been no more news of him since 2 October.
Istanbul police sources say that "the journalist was murdered" inside the Saudi diplomatic headquarters, by a "team" that would have come from Saudi Arabia "and returned the same day" in the country. For the investigators, a group of 15 Saudis arrived in the city on the day of the disappearance and never left the consulate.
Citing investigative sources, the Turkish official agency Anadolu states that Khashoggi "did not leave" from the diplomatic representation. The advisor to the Turkish president Yasin Aktay adds that the journalist and intellectual did not leave the consulate "in a normal way".
From the images of the security cameras surrounding the area it emerges that the journalist - forced to hand over his mobile phone before entering - never left (on foot) the building. The films show at the same time a movement of diplomatic cars that come and go from the structure.
Khashoggi had turned to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to get the necessary documents to get married again with his partner Hatice Cengiz, a woman of Turkish nationality who first reported the disappearance. The man had asked his partner to contact the Turkish authorities [in particular to contact a Recep Tayyip Erdogan adviser] in case he did not return. Colleagues and friends have launched the #JamalKhashoggiDisappeared campaign, in Arabic and English, which has collected thousands of subscriptions.
The Saudi intellectual and journalist had gone into exile last year in the United States, fearing a possible arrest by the authorities of the kingdom for having criticized some decisions of the crown prince Mbs, the kingdom's strongman.Khashoggi also targted Riyadh's military intervention in Yemen and the campaign of internal repression, which hit economists Essam Al-Zamel among others.
Saudi Arabia denies any involvement in the disappearance of Khashoggi and claims to collaborate "in the search". The same Mbs intervened on the affair, stating that "we have nothing to hide". The Crown Prince added that he "left after a few minutes or at most an hour" and "we want to know what happened to him".
For the Washington Post, his murder is a "huge and incomprehensible crime".
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25/10/2018 10:27
23/10/2018 12:27
