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Khashoggi mourners demand 'true justice' after Saudi disclosures Khashoggi mourners demand justice as Congress urges full US investigation
(about 1 hour later)
Friends and colleagues of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi have resumed their vigil outside the Saudi consulate building in Istanbul where he was killed two weeks ago to mourn his death and demand those responsible be bought to “true justice”. Amidst international scorn for Saudi Arabia’s official explanation of the death of Jamal Khashoggi, friends and colleagues of the reporter on Saturday resumed their vigil outside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, where he was killed two weeks ago.
“This is not over. It’s just starting,” Turan Kışlakçı, the president of the Arab Turkish Media Association, said in a speech. “We want Jamal’s murderers to be punished … and punishment also for the authority that gave the orders.” They were there to mourn his death and demand those responsible be bought to “true justice”.
After more than two weeks of stubborn denials from Saudi Arabia that it had anything to do with the dissident journalist’s disappearance, statements carried on the Saudi state news agency in the early hours of Saturday morning finally acknowledged he had died as the result of a “fistfight” inside the consulate on 2 October. In the US, Saudi Arabia’s major ally, the Trump administration remained cautiously supportive of the Riyadh line. But political pressure was building. Republican Bob Corker, the chair of the powerful Senate foreign relations committee, doubted the Saudi version of events and said the US “must make its own independent, credible determination of responsibility for Khashoggi’s murder”.
The statements said 18 men had been arrested in connection with the “cover-up”, and two senior officials – close confidantes of Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman – had been sacked. Khashoggi’s body had been disposed of by a “local collaborator”, officials later added. After more than two weeks of stubborn denials from Saudi Arabia that it had anything to do with Khashoggi’s disappearance, statements carried on the Saudi state news agency in the early hours of Saturday morning finally acknowledged his death – the result, it said, of a “fist-fight” inside the consulate on 2 October.
Saudi Arabia had been under significant pressure from allies in the White House to offer an explanation in the escalating diplomatic crisis. The statements said 18 men had been arrested in connection with the “cover-up” and two senior officials – close confidantes of Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman – had been sacked. Khashoggi’s body was disposed of by a “local collaborator”, officials later added.
The account has been met with widespread scepticism, however, in the face of mounting evidence emerging from the Turkish investigation into Khashoggi’s death pointing to a sophisticated assassination operation that could not have been carried out without the express sanction of the Saudi royal court. Khashoggi was a Saudi national but a US permanent resident. Saudi Arabia had been under significant pressure from the White House to offer an explanation in the escalating diplomatic crisis. Its eventual account met with widespread scepticism, however, in the face of mounting evidence emerging from the Turkish investigation into Khashoggi’s death pointing to a sophisticated assassination operation that could not have been carried out without the express sanction of the Saudi royal court.
Turkish officials have coordinated sustained leaks of information to local and US media that suggest Khashoggi was tortured and murdered and his body dismembered with a bone saw.Turkish officials have coordinated sustained leaks of information to local and US media that suggest Khashoggi was tortured and murdered and his body dismembered with a bone saw.
Investigators allege 15 men who arrived in Istanbul from Riyadh on private jets owned by the Saudi royal family were sent to kill him. Several of the suspects – including members of the crown prince’s security detail and a well-known forensics expert – were captured in security camera footage entering the consulate building the day Khashoggi died. Investigators allege 15 men who arrived in Istanbul from Riyadh on private jets owned by the Saudi royal family were sent to kill him. Several of the suspects – including members of the crown prince’s security detail and a well-known forensics expert – were captured in security camera footage entering the consulate building on the day Khashoggi died.
The deputy head of Turkey’s ruling party, Numan Kurtulmuş, vowed on Saturday that Turkey would “never allow a cover-up” of the killing. “We don’t immediately blame anyone. But we won’t go along with leaving details buried,” he said. On Saturday, Saudi Arabia’s allies in the region expressed support for the explanation while the UK, another ally, cautiously acknowledged the Saudi version of events. A statement from the Foreign Office said the government was considering its next steps.
Separately, a senior Turkish official told Reuters that investigators were close to finding out what happened to Khashoggi’s body. Police were searching Belgrad forest, north of Istanbul, and farmland near Yalova, 55-mile drive south of the city, after using CCTV footage to track the journeys of two vehicles owned by the Saudi consulate after Khashoggi was killed. But it was not clear the explanation of Khashoggi’s murder, the sackings and purported arrests would contain the damage to Riyadh.
The UK cautiously acknowledged the Saudi version of events on Saturday. A statement from the Foreign Office said the government was considering its next steps. At the United Nations, a spokesman said secretary general António Guterres was “deeply troubled” and “stresses the need for a prompt, thorough and transparent investigation into the circumstances of Mr Khashoggi’s death and full accountability for those responsible”.
In Washington, where the administration has made clear the US cannot afford to damage relations with its most important Arab ally, Donald Trump said what had happened to Khashoggi was “unacceptable” but called the Saudi announcement a “good first step”. Outside government circles, Amnesty International said the “impartiality” of the Saudi investigation would remain in question. The rights group called for “an impartial and independent investigation by the UN”.
In the US, the White House put out a non-committal statement “acknowledging” the Saudi statement on what it called “this tragic incident” and adding that the US would continue to follow developments.
Donald Trump’s son, Eric, signalled continued Trump family support. He went on Fox News to repeat the administration’s line that US-Saudi relations are too important, for commercial and strategic reasons, to give up because of the death of a journalist.
“What are you going to do?” he asked. “You’re going to take [that relationship] and you’re going to throw all of that away?”
But it was becoming increasingly clear that Republican leaders in Congress were not going to give credibility to the Saudi version of events and would insist on a full investigation by US intelligence, potentially followed by sanctions mandated by legislation known as Global Magnitsky, after a murdered Russian lawyer.
“Saudi Arabia’s changing stories on Khashoggi’s murder is getting old,” the Florida senator Marco Rubio wrote in a tweet. “The latest one about a fist-fight gone bad is bizarre. We must move forward with Global Magnitsky investigation we requested, find out what really happened and sanction those responsible.”
Corker, said: “The story the Saudis have told about Jamal Khashoggi’s disappearance continues to change with each passing day, so we should not assume their latest story holds water.
“They can undergo their own investigation, but the US administration must make its own independent, credible determination of responsibility for Khashoggi’s murder under the Global Magnitsky investigation as required by law.”
Under the law, the administration has 120 days from the day the Senate invoked Global Magnitsky, 10 October, to present the results of an investigation and a decision on sanctions.
The executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, Joel Simon, derided the Saudi suggest that Khashoggi died in a “fist-fight”.
“This ridiculous assertion is further evidence of a cover-up,” Simon said. “We need an international investigation and relentless pressure on Saudi Arabia from the Trump administration, if we ever hope to get to the truth.”
At the consulate in Istanbul, TuranKışlakçı, president of the Arab Turkish Media Association, said in a speech: “We want Jamal’s murderers to be punished … and punishment also for the authority that gave the orders.”
The deputy head of Turkey’s ruling party, Numan Kurtulmuş, vowed that Turkey would “never allow a cover-up” of the killing. “We don’t immediately blame anyone. But we won’t go along with leaving details buried,” he said.
Separately, a senior Turkish official told Reuters investigators were close to finding out what happened to Khashoggi’s body. Police were searching Belgrad forest, north of Istanbul, and farmland near Yalova, 55-mile drive south of the city, after using CCTV footage to track the journeys of two vehicles owned by the Saudi consulate after Khashoggi was killed.
Khashoggi’s fiancée, Hatice Cengiz, questioned in a tweet what had happened to his body. “The heart grieves, the eye tears, and with your separation we are saddened, my dear Jamal,” she said.
Jamal KhashoggiJamal Khashoggi
Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia
TurkeyTurkey
Middle East and North AfricaMiddle East and North Africa
US Congress
Republicans
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