Developments in the Khashoggi case



Saudis transfer $100M to US Gov, as suspect in Khashoggi murder dies in "car accident"

 

Khashoggi Murder Suspect Dies In "Suspicious Car Accident"

Zero Hedge

17 October, 2018

A 31-year-old lieutenant in the Saudi Royal Air Force said to have participated in the killing of Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi died in a "suspicious car accident" in Riyadh, according to Turkish media. 

Mashal Saad al-Bostani was reportedly on a 15-man hit squad dispatched to Saudi Arabia's Istanbul Consulate in Turkey on October 2 during Khashoggi's visit, before the team quickly left the country, according to daily Yeni Şafak. 

Albostani entered Turkey at 1:45 a.m. local time (2245GMT). He stayed at the Wyndham Grand Hotel and left the country at 9:46 p.m. local time (1846GMT) on a private jet which belonged to the Sky Prime Aviation company. -Yeni Şafak

Bostani's alleged role in the murder of the Saudi journalist are unclear, as are details of the traffic accident in Riyadh - prompting accusations of a cover up by those who orchestrated the Khashoggi hit. Meanwhile, a columnist for Turkey's Daily Hürriyet wrote on Thursday that Mohammad al Otaibi, Saudi Arabia's Istanbul consul-general, would be "the next execution."

Turkish daily Yeni Şafak reported Oct. 17 that Al-Otaibi’s voice could be heard in one of the recordings, which Turkish authorities are believed to have, of Khashoggi’s “interrogation” at the consulate.

According to the report, after Al-Otaibi told the interrogators to “do it somewhere else outside or I will be in trouble,” he was told to “shut up if you want to live when you are back in Saudi Arabia.”

Al-Otaibi returned to Saudi Arabia on Oct. 16 before his residence in Istanbul was searched by police for more than eight hours on Oct. 17 and Oct. 18. -Daily Hürriyet

Another suspect's photograph was released from security footage on October 18 by the newspaper Sabah, which reports that 47-year-old intelligence officer Maher Abdulaziz M. Mutreb, who previously served at Saudi Arabia's London embassy, "landed in Istanbul at 3:38 a.m. on Oct. 2 and went to his country’s Istanbul consulate at 9:55 a.m.," according to Hürriyet. 

Hours after Khashoggi’s arrival and disappearance, Mutreb left the consulate and visited the consul’s residence at 4:53 p.m., left his hotel at 5:15 p.m. and arrived at the Atatürk Airport for his return trip on a private jet at 5:58 p.m. -Daily Hürriyet

Mutreb had travelled extensively with the crown prince, perhaps as a bodyguard according to an October 16 report in the New York Times. 

Khashoggi, a US resident and Washington Post columnist who was critical of the Saudi government, reportedly took seven minutes to die adccording to the Middle East Eye and the Wall Street Journal. 

In perhaps the most gruesome details from the report, MEM reported that Dr. Salah Muhammad al-Tubaigy, who was identified by the Times and other media outlets as an "autopsy expert" whose presence cuts against Saudis' suggestions that the killing wasn't premeditated, started cutting Khashoggi's body into pieces while the journalist was unconscious, but still breathing. Previously, Khashoggi had been knocked unconscious after being injected with a mysterious substance.

Later, the NYT reported that the hit squad cut off Khashoggi's fingers while he was still conscious during an interrogation where he was also beaten and tortured before being dragged into another room where they finished butchering him.

According to WSJ, voices on the tapes can be heard asking the Saudi consul to leave his office before the hit squad murdered Khashoggi. The consul, al-Otaibi, departed Turkey for Riyadh Tuesday afternoon after the Saudis, in a sudden reversal, denied Turkey's requests to search Otaibi's residence, saying his home was off limits to investigators.

Photos Show Aide To Saudi Crown Prince Entering Consulate Hours Before Journalist's Disappearance
 

Zero Hedge,

17 October, 2018

The Turkish government is persisting in its campaign to implicate Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman in the suspected murder of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, working through leaks to Turkish media and the New York Times. And in the latest embarrassing leak, a Turkish newspaper has published surveillance photos showing Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb, a close associate of MbS who has been photographed with the Crown Prince on multiple occasions, entering the Saudi consulate on Oct. 2, just hours before Khashoggi entered and disappeared.

The photos also showed Mutreb standing outside the Saudi consul general’s home, leaving a Turkish hotel with a large suitcase, and leaving Turkey on a flight from Istanbul’s international airport later in the day.

Time stamps on the photographs, which Sabah said had been taken from closed-circuit television, showed Mr. Mutreb entering the Saudi consulate at 9:55 a.m., at the consul general’s home at 4:45 p.m., leaving the Istanbul hotel at 5:15 p.m., and at the airport leaving Turkey at 5:58 p.m.

The Times first identified Mutreb as a member of the purported 15-man hit squad earlier this week, publishing a series of photos showing Mutreb, who was also identified as a Saudi diplomat, as part of MbS's entourage during visits to Spain, France and the US.

Between the UN human rights chief calling for the suspension of diplomatic immunity for those involved in the killing, to the death of another purported hit squad member, a 31-year-old lieutenant in the Saudi Royal Air Force named Mashal Saad al-Bostani in a mysterious car accident, Mutreb has good reason to be anxious

Saudi Arabia Weighs Blaming Intelligence Official for Khashoggi Killing

The rulers of Saudi Arabia are considering blaming a top intelligence official close to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, three people with knowledge of the Saudi plans said Thursday.

The plan to assign blame to Maj. Gen. Ahmed al-Assiri, a high-ranking adviser to the crown prince, would be an extraordinary recognition of the magnitude of international backlash to hit the kingdom since the death of Mr. Khashoggi, a prominent Saudi dissident. A resident of Virginia and contributor to The Washington Post, Mr. Khashoggi was last seen entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2.

Blaming General Assiri could also provide a plausible explanation for the killing and help deflect blame from the crown prince, who American intelligence agencies are increasingly convinced was behind Mr. Khashoggi’s disappearance.

Saudis To Blame Top General For Journalist's Killing: NYT

‘It certainly looks like’ Khashoggi is dead, consequences will be ‘severe’ – Trump

 

The missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi appears to be dead, US President Donald Trump has told reporters, saying there would be “severe” consequences for whoever is behind it.

“It certainly looks that way to me,” Trump said when asked if Khashoggi was dead. “It's very sad.”

Mike Pence Vows "There Will Be Consequences" If Saudis Ordered Khashoggi's Killing

In what was the strongest repudiation yet of the Saudi government's suspected involvement in the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Vice President Mike Pence warned on Thursday during a brief huddle with reporters on a tarmac in Colorado that "there will be consequences" if Khashoggi was murdered, and that the US will not "solely rely" on the results of investigations organized by the Saudi and Turkish governments.

Pence's claim that the US won't solely rely on the results of these investigations echoed remarks made earlier by Secretary of State Mike Pence, who spoke at the White House Thursday after briefing President Trump on his trip to Riyadh and Ankara. Pence also said the allegations about Khashoggi's killing, if true, would be an affront to press freedoms around the world.

"If what has been alleged occurred, if an innocent person lost their life at the hands of violence, that's to be condemned," Pence said.

"If a journalist in particular lost their life at the hands of violence, that's an affront to the free and independent press around the world," he added. "And there will be consequences."

Pence's comments are notable for the utter lack of credulity regarding the Saudi's official denials that Khashoggi was killed at their embassy. While Turkish investigators say they have found evidence that Khashoggi was likely killed at the consulate during their investigation (and also purportedly possess an audio recording of what was allegedly a brutal murder), the Saudis have stuck to their official denials and said Khashoggi left the consulate shortly after arriving.

Not to be outdone, President Trump adopted a slightly more severe tone Thursday afternoon when he said consequences for Khashoggi's death "will need to be very severe" if the Saudis are found to have orchestrated the murder. Trump acknowledged for the first time that Khashoggi is "probably dead." He hasn't been seen or heard from since Oct. 2, when he visited the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to obtain a marriage license. All of this is bad news for Saudi Gen. Ahmed al-Assiri, an intelligence official whom the Saudis are reportedly planning to scapegoat for the killing.

US Intelligence "Increasingly Convinced" Saudi Prince Ordered Khashoggi's Killing

Saudi Arabia ‘Coincidentally’ Wires $100 Million To U.S. Amid Khashoggi Controversy

The payment, which the Saudis had committed to in August, reportedly arrived on the same day that Pompeo landed in Riyadh.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to discuss the disappearance and presumed murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. That same day, the U.S. government received a $100 million payment from the oil-rich kingdom, The New York Times and Washington Post reported — an amount that had earlier been promised to the Trump administration to support its stabilization efforts in Syria.

Trump officials have insisted the timing of the hefty transfer was pure coincidence. But some Middle Eastern experts say they aren’t so sure.

“In all probability, the Saudis want Trump to know that his cooperation in covering for the Khashoggi affair is important to the Saudi monarch,” Joshua Landis, director of the University of Oklahoma’s Center of Middle East Studies, told the Post. “Much of its financial promises to the U.S. will be contingent on this cooperation.”

One U.S. official involved in Syria policy was blunter. “The timing of this is no coincidence,” the official told the Times.

Brett McGurk, the U.S. envoy to the coalition fighting the Islamic State, has maintained, however, that the Saudi payment had no connection whatsoever to Pompeo’s meeting with the Crown Prince or Khashoggi’s alleged murder.

Saudi Arabia had publicly committed the money in August, he said, adding that “the specific transfer of funds has been long in process and has nothing to do with other events or the secretary’s visit.”