ANKARA – Turkish police believe that prominent Saudi journalist and criticJamal Khashoggi was murdered inside the Saudi mission in Istanbul after hewent missing on Tuesday, according to an unnamed government official.
“Based on their initial findings, the police believe that the journalistwas killed by a team especially sent to Istanbul and who left the sameday,” the official told AFP on Saturday.
It came hours after police confirmed that around 15 Saudis, includingofficials, arrived in Istanbul on two flights on Tuesday and were at theconsulate at the same time as Khashoggi.
The Washington Post contributor had gone to the consulate on anadministrative errand but “did not come back out” of the building, policehad told the state-run Anadolu news agency.
On the back of the preliminary investigation, Ankara announced Saturday ithad opened an official probe into his disappearance.
The state-run Saudi Press Agency, quoting an unnamed official at theIstanbul consulate, denied the reports of Khashoggi’s murder.
“The official strongly denounced these baseless allegations,” the agencywrote, adding that a team of Saudi investigators were in Turkey workingwith local authorities.
Reacting to news of the alleged murder, the journalist’s Turkish fiancee,Hatice Cengiz, said on Twitter she “did not believe he has been killed”.
In his columns, Khashoggi has been critical of some policies of Saudi CrownPrince Mohammed bin Salman and Riyadh’s intervention in the war in Yemen.
The former government adviser, who turns 60 on October 13, has lived inself-imposed exile in the United States since last year to avoid possiblearrest.
– ‘We have nothing to hide’ –
Press freedom campaigners condemned reports of Khashoggi’s possible murder,with the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists demanding Riyadhgive “a full and credible account” of what happened to him inside theconsulate.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said on Twitter that if reports ofKhashoggi’s death were confirmed, “this would constitute a horrific,utterly deplorable, and absolutely unacceptable assault on press freedom”.
Prince Mohammed said in an interview with Bloomberg published Friday thatthe journalist had left the consulate and Turkish authorities could searchthe building, which is Saudi sovereign territory.
“We are ready to welcome the Turkish government to go and search ourpremises,” he said, adding that “we will allow them to enter and search anddo whatever they want to do… We have nothing to hide”.
The Saudi crown prince also said he understood that Khashoggi had enteredthe consulate but then “got out after a few minutes or one hour”.
“We are investigating this through the foreign ministry to see exactly whathappened at that time,” he added.
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According to his fiancee Cengiz, Khashoggi had visited the consulate toreceive an official document for his marriage.
Turkey’s foreign ministry on Wednesday summoned Saudi Arabia’s ambassadorover the issue.
A spokesperson for the US State Department said: “We are not in a positionto confirm these reports, but we are closely following the situation.”
– ‘Reasoned criticism’ –
Khashoggi fled the country in September 2017, months after Prince Mohammedwas appointed heir to the throne, amid a campaign that saw dozens ofdissidents arrested including intellectuals and Islamic preachers.
The journalist said he had been banned from writing in the pan-Arab dailyAl-Hayat, owned by Saudi prince Khaled bin Sultan al-Saud, over his defenceof the Muslim Brotherhood which Riyadh has blacklisted as a terroristorganisation.
He has also criticised Saudi Arabia’s role in Yemen, where Riyadh leads amilitary coalition fighting alongside the government in its war withIran-backed rebels.
The Washington Post chose to leave a blank space where Khashoggi’s columnwould have been in its Friday edition in support of the missing writer.
In an article published by Al-Jazeera this week, journalist and analystBill Law described Khashoggi as “a brilliant journalist with a fiercelyindependent mind but with sufficient pragmatism to know just how close tothe red lines he could go”.
“His is a voice of reasoned criticism and wise comment that the Saudi crownprince should listen to,” wrote Law, who said he had known Khashoggi for 16years.
Saudi Arabia, which ranks 169th out of 180 on the World Press Freedom Indexissued by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), has launched a modernisationcampaign since Prince Mohammed’s appointment as heir to the throne.
But the ultra-conservative kingdom, which won plaudits in June for liftinga ban on women driving, has drawn heavy criticism for its handling ofdissent.
Khashoggi’s criticism of Prince Mohammed’s policies have appeared in boththe Arab and Western press.
In a March 6 Guardian editorial co-authored with Robert Lacey, he wrote:”For his domestic reform programme, the crown prince deserves praise. Butat the same time, the brash and abrasive young innovator has not encouragedor permitted any popular debate” on the changes. – APP /AFP
