ISTANBUL – Turkish police believe Saudi journalist and critic JamalKhashoggi was murdered inside Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul, agovernment source said, but Riyadh denied the claim.
The Washington Post contributor, 59, vanished after an appointment withSaudi officials on Tuesday.
“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 government source told AFP on Saturday.
Police said earlier that around 15 Saudis, including officials, arrived inIstanbul on two flights on Tuesday and were at the consulate at the sametime as Khashoggi.
The journalist went to the building to obtain official documents but “didnot come back out”, police were quoted as saying by Turkey’s state-runAnadolu news agency.
Ankara announced on Saturday it had opened an official probe into hisdisappearance.
The state-run Saudi Press Agency quoted an unnamed official at the Istanbulconsulate as denying the reports of Khashoggi’s murder.
“The official strongly denounced these baseless allegations,” the agencywrote.
It said a team of Saudi investigators were in Turkey working with localauthorities.
– Friends warned: ‘Don’t go’ –
Reacting to the news, the journalist’s Turkish fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, saidon Twitter she was “waiting for an official confirmation from the Turkishgovernment to believe it”.
Khashoggi had gone to the consulate to receive an official document fortheir marriage.
In his newspaper columns, Khashoggi has been critical of some policies ofSaudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Riyadh’s intervention in the warin 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.
Yasin Aktay, an official in Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party(AKP) who was close to the journalist, said Khashoggi had made anappointment in advance with the consulate and called to check the documentswere ready.
“His friends had warned him, ‘Don’t go there, it is not safe,’ but he saidthey could not do anything to him in Turkey,” said Aktay.
Read Top Stories
He added that he still hoped the reports of his friend’s death were untrue.
– ‘Unprecedented crime if true’ –
Prince Mohammed said in an interview published by Bloomberg on 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. “We have nothing to hide.”
Turkey’s foreign ministry on Wednesday summoned Saudi Arabia’s ambassadorover the issue.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists demanded Riyadh give “afull and credible account” of what happened to Khashoggi inside theconsulate.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said on Twitter that if reports of hisdeath were confirmed, “this would constitute a horrific, utterlydeplorable, and absolutely unacceptable assault on press freedom”.
OSCE media freedom representative Harlem Desir said on Twitter that he was“shocked” by the claims.
“If confirmed, that’s an unprecedented crime against journalists. I trustTurkey authorities will unveil details. Those responsible for this horrificcrime must face justice,” Desir added.
A spokesperson for the US State Department said it could not confirm thereports but was “closely following the situation”.
The British Foreign Office said in a statement it was “working urgently” toverify the “extremely serious” allegations.
Fred Hiatt, the director of the Washington Post’s editorial page, said ifthe reports were true “it is a monstrous and unfathomable act”.
“Jamal was — or, as we hope, is — a committed, courageous journalist. Hewrites out of a sense of love for his country and deep faith in humandignity and freedom,” Hiatt said in a statement on the US newspaper’swebsite. – APP/AFP
