Khashoggi murder trial told oven was lit after killing

[rooster59]

Khashoggi murder trial told oven was lit after killing

By Can Sezer

 

Hatice Cengiz, a fiancee of the murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, leaves the Justice Palace after attending a trial on the killing of Khashoggi at the Saudi Arabian Consulate, in Istanbul, Turkey, July 3, 2020. REUTERS/Murad Sezer

 

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - A Saudi consulate worker in Istanbul told a Turkish court on Friday he had been asked to light a tandoor oven less than an hour after Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi entered the building where he was killed.

 

Zeki Demir, a local technician who worked for the consulate, was giving evidence on the first day of the trial in absentia of 20 Saudi officials over Khashoggi's killing, which sparked global outrage and tarnished the image of Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler.

 

Demir said he had been called to the consul's residence after Khashoggi entered the nearby consulate to seek his papers.

 

"There were five to six people there... They asked me to light up the tandoor (oven). There was an air of panic," he said.

 

Khashoggi disappeared after going to the consulate to get papers for his marriage in October 2018. Some Western governments, as well as the CIA, said they believed Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had ordered the hit - an accusation Saudi officials denied.

 

Turkish officials have said one theory police pursued was that Khashoggi's killers may have tried to dispose of his body by burning it after suffocating him and cutting up his corpse.

 

The indictment accuses two top Saudi officials, former deputy head of Saudi Arabia's general intelligence Ahmed al-Asiri and former royal court adviser Saud al-Qahtani, of instigating "premeditated murder with monstrous intent".

 

It says 18 other defendants were flown to Turkey to kill Khashoggi, a prominent and well-connected journalist who had grown increasingly critical of the crown prince.

 

The defendants are being tried in absentia and are unlikely ever to be handed over by Saudi Arabia, which has accused Turkey of failing to cooperate with a separate, largely secretive, trial in Riyadh last year.

 

In December a Saudi court sentenced five people to death and three to jail for the killing, but Khashoggi's family later said they forgave his murderers, effectively granting them a formal reprieve under Saudi law.

 

A Saudi prosecutor said at the time there was no evidence connecting Qahtani to the killing and dismissed charges against Asiri.

 

BASIS FOR FURTHER TRIALS?

 

According to his testimony in the indictment, Demir reported seeing many skewers of meat and a small barbecue in addition to the oven in the consul's garden. Marble slabs around the oven appeared to have changed colour as if they had been cleaned with a chemical, the indictment reported him as saying.

 

Separate witness testimony in the indictment, from the consul's driver, said the consul had ordered raw kebabs to be bought from a local restaurant.

 

Demir offered to help with the garage door when a car with darkened windows arrived, but he was told to leave the garden quickly, the indictment said.

 

Rights campaigners hope that the Istanbul trial will throw a fresh spotlight on the case and reinforce the argument for sanctions against Riyadh or for legal action against the suspects when they travel abroad.

 

"If the process works, what this trial ...will strengthen is the possibility of universal jurisdiction," Agnes Callamard, U.N. special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, told Reuters on the eve of the trial.

 

That could give European countries, for example, the basis to launch a trial if any Saudis linked to the case travelled into their territories, she said.

 

"Justice in these complex environments is not delivered overnight...but a good process here can build up (evidence for) what can happen in five years, in 10 years, whenever the circumstances are stronger," Callamard said.

 

Khashoggi's fiancee Hatice Cengiz, who had waited unknowing outside the consulate while he was killed, said she would continue to seek justice "not only in Turkey but everywhere possible".

 

(Additional reporting by Dominic Evans and Ece Toksabay, Writing by Dominic Evans; Editing by Peter Graff and Nick Tattersall)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-07-04

 

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[ezzra]

1 hour ago, rooster59 said:

"There were five to six people there... They asked me to light up the tandoor (oven). There was an air of panic," he said.

Ok, that pretty much put me off any tandoor baked food now...

[jasonsamui55]

What's for dinner tonight? LOL

[Bundooman]

1 hour ago, ezzra said:

Ok, that pretty much put me off any tandoor baked food now...

Particularly as the guy is also likely to end up in the same oven, for admitting that - porky pizzas!

[grumpy 4680]

         The Kashoggi familly were paid well to forgive  the Murdering Thugs, Shame on them, those responsible should be allowed to travel, then arrested quietly, and end up in the same fate, or made to confess to real truth of who organised the assassination.

 

[Tug]

Well there you go never knew the Saudis were into long pork all joking aside guess now we know how those murderous scum got rid of the body

[Proboscis]

24 minutes ago, grumpy 4680 said:

         The Kashoggi familly were paid well to forgive  the Murdering Thugs, Shame on them, those responsible should be allowed to travel, then arrested quietly, and end up in the same fate, or made to confess to real truth of who organised the assassination.

 

The trouble for the family is that if they did not agree to "forgive" the killers, they would themselves be in trouble. Individuals in Saudi Arabia have no rights. If the Royal household decides that someone should not be allowed to go abroad or should be jailed or whatever, the evidence can be found for the fitting crime.

[PETERTHEEATER]

A tandoori oven 'bakes' it does not have naked flame or glowing coals inside. If you wanted to burn anything including body parts in a private garden you would need a crematorium oven to reduce them to ash. A statement that a servant was asked to light a 'tandoori' oven in a Consulate means only that someone wanted to cook Arabic style flat bread 'kubz' 

[off road pat]

8 hours ago, car720 said:

Money talks.  The rest of us just watch.

Hm,...It's more than just money,..It's a mix of geopolitics, petrol, power, and a enormous amount of money...And huge Arms deals !!!

Edited July 4, 2020 by off road pat

[from the home of CC]

with so much $ invested in various countries including the US and UK they pretty well operate with impunity and have been for decades..

[candide]

1 hour ago, PETERTHEEATER said:

A tandoori oven 'bakes' it does not have naked flame or glowing coals inside. If you wanted to burn anything including body parts in a private garden you would need a crematorium oven to reduce them to ash. A statement that a servant was asked to light a 'tandoori' oven in a Consulate means only that someone wanted to cook Arabic style flat bread 'kubz' 

Torturing makes people hungry! 

[RobFord]

6 hours ago, PETERTHEEATER said:

A tandoori oven 'bakes' it does not have naked flame or glowing coals inside. If you wanted to burn anything including body parts in a private garden you would need a crematorium oven to reduce them to ash. A statement that a servant was asked to light a 'tandoori' oven in a Consulate means only that someone wanted to cook Arabic style flat bread 'kubz' 

Three days to dispose of the body. 

“The outdoor furnace in the Saudi consul's yard was built according to his specifications and can withstand temperatures hot enough to melt metal, a worker who constructed the oven told Al-Jazeer”

 

https://www.dailysabah.com/politics/2019/03/05/evidence-shows-khashoggis-body-cremated-in-saudi-consuls-oven

[Morch]

23 minutes ago, RobFord said:

Three days to dispose of the body. 

“The outdoor furnace in the Saudi consul's yard was built according to his specifications and can withstand temperatures hot enough to melt metal, a worker who constructed the oven told Al-Jazeer”

 

https://www.dailysabah.com/politics/2019/03/05/evidence-shows-khashoggis-body-cremated-in-saudi-consuls-oven

 

I'd take reports from the Daily Sabah with a grain of salt.

 

Quote

Daily Sabah has been frequently called a propaganda outlet for the Turkish government and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). It is owned by a friend of President Erdogan, and part of his daily routine due to favorable coverages.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daily_Sabah

[nahkit]

15 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Tarnished the image of Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler.

????

[RobFord]

16 hours ago, Morch said:

 

I'd take reports from the Daily Sabah with a grain of salt.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daily_Sabah

They don’t go into the witnesses details regarding the oven, bu same / same.

 

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-saudi-khashoggi-turkey-trial/khashoggi-murder-trial-told-oven-was-lit-after-killing-idUSKBN2441AH

[RobFord]

17 hours ago, Morch said:

 

I'd take reports from the Daily Sabah with a grain of salt.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daily_Sabah

How about Aljazeera? Although it is very likely the same worker interviewed. 

 

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/03/jamal-khashoggi-body-burned-large-oven-saudi-home-190304011823218.html

[RobFord]

On 7/4/2020 at 2:02 PM, PETERTHEEATER said:

A tandoori oven 'bakes' it does not have naked flame or glowing coals inside. If you wanted to burn anything including body parts in a private garden you would need a crematorium oven to reduce them to ash. A statement that a servant was asked to light a 'tandoori' oven in a Consulate means only that someone wanted to cook Arabic style flat bread 'kubz' 

Al Jazeera interviewed a worker who constructed the furnace who stated it was built according to specifications from the Saudi consul. It had to be deep and withstand temperatures above 1,000 degrees Celsius - hot enough to melt metal.
 

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/03/jamal-khashoggi-body-burned-large-oven-saudi-home-190304011823218.html

[Morch]

55 minutes ago, RobFord said:

How about Aljazeera? Although it is very likely the same worker interviewed. 

 

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/03/jamal-khashoggi-body-burned-large-oven-saudi-home-190304011823218.html

 

Was that a serious question? Al Jazeera is owned by Qatar.

My original point was that the original Turkish venue linked is not particularly credible even by ME standards.