Saudi Arabia now says Khashoggi murder 'premeditated'

[webfact]

Saudi Arabia now says Khashoggi murder 'premeditated'

 

Friends of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi hold posters and banners with his pictures during a demonstration outside the Saudi Arabia consulate in Istanbul, Turkey October 25, 2018. REUTERS/Osman Orsal

 

DUBAI/ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's public prosecutor said on Thursday the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the kingdom's Istanbul consulate this month was premeditated, reversing previous official statements that the killing was unintended.

 

The death of Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and critic of de facto Saudi ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has sparked global outrage and mushroomed into a crisis for the world's top oil exporter and strategic ally of the West.

 

The Saudi disclosure came after CIA director Gina Haspel heard an audio recording of the killing during a fact-finding visit to Turkey this week.

 

The spy chief on Thursday briefed President Donald Trump on Turkey's findings and her discussions, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo participated in the meeting, the State Department said.

 

Saudi officials initially denied having anything to do with Khashoggi's disappearance after he entered the consulate on Oct. 2, before changing the official account to say an internal investigation suggested he was accidentally killed in a botched operation to return him to the kingdom.

 

On Thursday, Saudi state TV quoted the Saudi public prosecutor as saying the killing was premeditated, and that prosecutors were interrogating suspects on the basis of information provided by a joint Saudi-Turkish task force.

 

"Information from the Turkish side affirms that the suspects in Khashoggi's case premeditated their crime," said the statement carried by state TV.

 

Turkey and Western allies of Riyadh have voiced deep scepticism about Saudi explanations of the killing.

 

Turkish officials suspect Saudi agents killed Khashoggi, 59, inside the consulate and cut up his body. Turkish sources say authorities have an audio recording purportedly documenting the murder.

 

Pro-government Turkish newspaper Yeni Safak, citing the audio, has said his torturers cut off his fingers during an interrogation and later beheaded him.

 

The CIA's Haspel heard an audio recording of Khashoggi's death during a trip to Turkey this week, sources told Reuters. It was not clear what could be heard. Representatives for the CIA and Turkish intelligence declined to comment.

 

"We have shared with those who sought additional information some of the information and findings that the prosecutor has allowed us to share," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters, without giving details.

 

Among various versions of what happened to Khashoggi given by Riyadh, Saudi officials had said the columnist was either killed in a fight inside the consulate or died in a chokehold when he resisted being drugged and abducted.

 

A European security source who was briefed by people who listened to the audio said of the recording:

"There was an argument at the beginning, they insulted each other, it then developed. (Saudis said) 'Let's give a lesson to him'."

 

Khashoggi did not appear to believe he was going to die, the source said.

 

INTELLIGENCE RESTRUCTURING

How Western allies deal with Riyadh will hinge on the extent to which they believe responsibility for Khashoggi's death lies directly with the prince and the Saudi authorities.

 

Saudi Arabia has detained 18 people and dismissed five senior government officials as part of the investigation into Khashoggi's murder.

 

Some were members of a 15-man hit team, many of them Saudi intelligence operatives, who flew into Istanbul hours before Khashoggi's death, Turkish security sources say.

 

Turkish police were investigating water samples from a well at the consulate on Thursday after initially being denied access, broadcaster CNN Turk said.

 

King Salman, who has delegated the day-to-day running of Saudi Arabia to the crown prince, on Saturday ordered a restructuring of the general intelligence agency.

 

Saudi state news agency SPA said on Thursday that Prince Mohammed had presided over the first meeting of a committee to carry out that restructuring.

 

The prince promised on Wednesday the killers would be brought to justice, his first public comments on the matter.

 

Khashoggi's eldest son, Salah, and his family arrived on Thursday in Washington on a flight from Saudi Arabia, according to two sources close to the family. One source said Salah Khashoggi holds dual U.S.-Saudi citizenship and had been under a travel ban.

 

This week he held a meeting at the al Yamama Palace in Riyadh in which he and other family members received condolences from King Salman and the crown prince.

 

A photograph of the meeting showed Salah staring coldly at the prince as the pair shook hands.

 

Dozens of people stood vigil outside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Thursday to demand justice. Several carried cardboard images of his face and signs reading "Khashoggi's friends". One, his hands painted red, wore a mask depicting the face of Prince Mohammed.

 

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has called Khashoggi's murder a "savage killing" and demanded Riyadh punish those responsible, no matter how highly placed.

 

The king assured Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone call on Thursday that the Saudi government was determined to hold the guilty parties accountable and make sure "they receive their punishment," according to the official Saudi press agency.

 

Saudi Arabia is the lynchpin of a U.S.-backed regional bloc against Iran but the crisis has strained Riyadh's relations with the West. Dozens of Western officials, bankers and executives shunned a big investment conference in Riyadh this week.

 

But striking a defiant tone, the crown prince told international investors at the three-day gathering on Wednesday that the furore would not derail the kingdom's reform drive.

 

"We will prove to the world that the two governments (Saudi and Turkish) are cooperating to punish any criminal, any culprit, and at the end justice will prevail," he said to applause.

 

(Reporting by Asma Alsharif and Tuqa Khalid in Dubai; Ali Kucukgocmen and Tulay Karadeniz in Ankara; Humeyra Pamuk, Mark Hosenball, Jonathan Landay, and Susan Heavey in Washington; Writing by Mark Heinrich and Alistair Bell; Editing by Nick Tattersall and James Dalgleish)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-10-26

[sirineou]

12 minutes ago, webfact said:

How Western allies deal with Riyadh will hinge on the extent to which they believe responsibility for Khashoggi's death lies directly with the prince and the Saudi authorities.

The Saudis will look into who was responsible and will restructure their intelligence agency.  

13 minutes ago, webfact said:

King Salman, who has delegated the day-to-day running of Saudi Arabia to the crown prince, on Saturday ordered a restructuring of the general intelligence agency.

The day to day running of the kingdom which i assume includes the investigation of who is responsible, is delegated to the person accused of being responsible.   

13 minutes ago, webfact said:

Saudi state news agency SPA said on Thursday that Prince Mohammed had presided over the first meeting of a committee to carry out that restructuring.

The person accused of ordering the killing will preside over the restructuring.

14 minutes ago, webfact said:

The prince promised on Wednesday the killers would be brought to justice, his first public comments on the matter.

If he finds himself responsible I guess he will have to kill himself.

  You can't make this sh#& Up

[YetAnother]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

Saudi Arabia's public prosecutor said on Thursday the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the kingdom's Istanbul consulate this month was premeditated, reversing previous official statements that the killing was unintended.

this fascinating story continues to unravel, sure to be  the basis of multiple movies; what in the world were the saudis thinking ? eliminating one man can be done in many , far less conspicuous, ways

[alex8912]

10 minutes ago, YetAnother said:

this fascinating story continues to unravel, sure to be  the basis of multiple movies; what in the world were the saudis thinking ? eliminating one man can be done in many , far less conspicuous, ways

I don’t think this is Hollywood stuff at all but good banter on TVF. 

[generealty]

Oh dear oh dear, what a farce and still on-going. Imagine being in the Crown Princes bodyguard and told go kill him, if you don't you'll die for refusing an order. Seems to be his bodyguard literally means die if do and die if don't. The finger and blame clearly points at the Royal Prince no one else would dare to take this upon themselves to bring  such a fiasco upon the House of Saudi without clear instructions.

[ksamuiguy]

nothing!

[wayned]

5 minutes ago, ksamuiguy said:

nothing!

I addition to Pompeo revoking the visas of the hit team I think that he will be forced to do something.  What he should do immediately is sanction MBS and others in his family and immediately close the Saudi Consulates in Houston, Los Angeles and New York and kick all of the Saudi staff out of the country.  He did at least that when Putin poison the Russian spy and his daughter but didn't actually kill them.

[sanuk711]

Trump says the Saudis are rubbish at covering things up........................... I'm not so sure.

I think Sticking a tea towel on your head is still marginally better than a comb over. .........

[BoganInParasite]

One wonders how many of these arrested folks are going to keep quiet on MBS true involvement as the prospect of having their heads removed by a Saudi executioner nears.

[wayned]

Most likely none of them will ever make it to the the heads removal stage, I read that one of them had already died in a car accident.

[mtls2005]

2 hours ago, YetAnother said:

what in the world were the saudis thinking ? eliminating one man can be done in many , far less conspicuous, ways

 

This was about sending a message to others who might oppose MbS, rather than just killing a single pesky citizen. Hence, the message must be loud, clear, gruesome otherwise it doesn't scare people. MbS just thought he had cover from (Clown Prince) Jared, and overplayed his hand.

[Rimmer]

A post has been removed.

If you wish your post to remain up please use politicians correct names not some derogatory name you just dreamt up, thank you

[wayned]

7 minutes ago, mtls2005 said:

 

This was about sending a message to others who might oppose MbS, rather than just killing a single pesky citizen. Hence, the message must be loud, clear, gruesome otherwise it doesn't scare people. MbS just thought he had cover from (Clown Prince) Jared, and overplayed his hand.

Two things killed their attempt:

1.  They didn't realize that his fiance had come with him and was waiting outside and that she had high up connections in the Erdogan regime. If they had she might have gone missing also.

2.  They didn't realize that the Turks had bugged the Consulate (stupid).  But they might have gotten away with it if it hadn't been for the fiancee's quick reaction to contact the Turks .

3. I doubt that Jared could provide cover for anybody and should be worrying about himse3lf as the 2018 elections are nearing and I have a feeling that Mueller will bring forward some additional indictments soon thereafter.

[Silurian]

Shall we list the excuses?

 

1) Khashoggi left the consulate and is wandering around Istanbal (see body double picture for proof).

 

2) Khashoggi died under torture by rogue agents.

 

3) Khashoggi died while engaging in a fist fight.

 

4) Khashoggi's murder was premeditated but MBS had absolutely nothing to do with it (never mind the fact that MBS's personal agents were involved.)

 

Each excuse just gets worse and worse. Just come out and say it. MBS ordered the murder of Khashoggi and doesn't care what the rest of the world thinks. There really isn't any other probable explanation.

 

[klauskunkel]

They used up all their brain power to premeditate the murder, and then had nothing left to cover it up...

[mok199]

Arabs wrote the book on deception...

[Srikcir]

2 hours ago, Silurian said:

Each excuse just gets worse and worse.

5) Khashoggi's body parts allegedly found in consul general's home garden.

6) Two suitcases and clothes allegedly belonging to Khashoggi found in consul's car.

This is all aside from any post intercept analysis by US, British, Israeli, Turkish, etc. communication intercepts.

Prince Jamal should be ruled too incompetent to succeed the King.

 

[AGareth2]

2 hours ago, Srikcir said:

Prince Jamal should be ruled too incompetent to succeed the King.

Jamal is the guy who was murdered

[JemJem]

Another sad, annoying thing regarding this incident will be that, most probably, Erdogan and his fascist regime will have scored political/international points out of it.

 

It seems as if nothing, nothing, nothing can go wrong for Erdogan !  ????

[LomSak27]

11 hours ago, webfact said:

Saudi Arabia now says Khashoggi murder 'premeditated'

 

No kidding.

[Thian]

Is Emirates also from this family?? 

[BoganInParasite]

15 minutes ago, Thian said:

Is Emirates also from this family?? 

No.

[cookieqw]

13 hours ago, generealty said:

Oh dear oh dear, what a farce and still on-going. Imagine being in the Crown Princes bodyguard and told go kill him, if you don't you'll die for refusing an order. Seems to be his bodyguard literally means die if do and die if don't. The finger and blame clearly points at the Royal Prince no one else would dare to take this upon themselves to bring  such a fiasco upon the House of Saudi without clear instructions.

one thing for sure they wont let the turks have them

[cookieqw]

2 hours ago, Thian said:

Is Emirates also from this family?? 

united arab emirates is not saudi arabia

[anon7867763]

Some "loyal servants" are going to take the hit for this even though they were only following orders. Well, they are guilty of working for an evil regime for their own gains. No sympathies from me

Edited October 26, 2018 by johnsnapo
grammar

[anon7867763]

12 minutes ago, cookieqw said:

united arab emirates is not saudi arabia

They are close allies

[Srikcir]

6 hours ago, AGareth2 said:

Jamal is the guy who was murdered

Sorry I meant Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman

[Thian]

1 hour ago, cookieqw said:

united arab emirates is not saudi arabia

I see, so Etihad airways is from Saudi Arabia right?

[gunderhill]

Filthy vile pos

[Opl]

1 hour ago, Thian said:

I see, so Etihad airways is from Saudi Arabia right?

 Etihad -> United Arab Emirates 

 Saudi Arabia Airlines