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The Washington Post said Tuesday it was still waiting for answers on the killing of its contributor Jamal Khashoggi and urged the U.S. Congress to impose sanctions on those responsible for the murder.
Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist and columnist for newspaper, went missing after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2.
After weeks of denying any knowledge of his whereabouts, Saudi officials admitted that Khashoggi was killed in a fist fight inside the consulate building.
In an opinion piece, the Post's editorial board said what happened to Khashoggi's body remained "undisclosed".
The board accused the Saudi government and its “de facto accomplices" in the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump of remaining silent instead of clarifying the questions about the murder.
It said those behind the killing were hoping that "demands for accountability will fade away now that the story has been pushed from the front pages. That should not be allowed to happen".
Britain's foreign secretary said on Tuesday he had no previous knowledge of a Saudi plot against journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was killed at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2.Declining to respond to weekend claims by a British tabloid that British intelligence services knew there was a plot to abduct Khashoggi, saying he “would not talk about intelligence matters,” Jeremy Hunt nevertheless said he was not made aware of any knowledge about such a plot.The Sunday Express claimed that a British intelligence source told them the U.K.’s intelligence services “were initially made aware that something was going in the first week of September, around three weeks before Mr Khashoggi walked into the consulate on October 2, though it took more time for other details to emerge."Saudi Arabia executed Indonesian worker: Rights groupHunt’s remarks came at a question session at the House of Commons where British Foreign Office ministers took lawmakers’ queries.The tabloid reported that the details British intelligence knew “included primary orders to capture Mr Khashoggi and bring him back to Saudi Arabia for questioning.”“However, the door seemed to be left open for alternative remedies to what was seen as a big problem,” the source told the tabloid, based on information from the British Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), the source told the paper.It further quoted the source as saying that the intelligence services “know the orders came from a member of the royal circle but have no direct information to link them to Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman.”Erdoğan says Turkish prosecutor asked Saudi counterpart who sent Khashoggi's killersThe Sunday Express article also claimed that the unnamed source confirmed that MI6 -- British Secret Intelligence Service -- had warned its Saudi counterparts to cancel the mission but this request was ignored.“On October 1 we became aware of the movement of a group, which included members of Ri'asat Al-Istikhbarat Al-Amah (GID) [Saudi intelligence] to Istanbul, and it was pretty clear what their aim was,” the intelligence source told the tabloid.“Through channels we warned that this was not a good idea. Subsequent events show that our warning was ignored.”After weeks of denying any knowledge of his whereabouts, Saudi officials admitted that Khashoggi had been killed inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.The Washington Post reported earlier, based on U.S. intelligence intercepts, that Crown Prince Salman had ordered an operation to lure the journalist back to Saudi Arabia.'Jamal Khashoggi deserves a dignified burial'Intelligence“If the allegations in this weekend’s report are true, they are extremely serious,” Labour’s shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry said, following up the question about Khashoggi.“It was reported in early September that our intelligence services became aware of the Saudi plan to abduct Jamal Khashoggi and on October 1 they knew that a Saudi team had been dispatched to Istanbul for that purpose,” she said.“Now, here, the foreign secretary says that he did not know. But did the intelligence services know and has he asked them?” she queried Hunt.Hunt said: “It is not possible for a foreign secretary or indeed any minister to comment on intelligence matters, for very obvious reasons.”Turkey denies top Saudi prosecutor’s request for whole Khashoggi file: report“But, I did not know about this attack,” he repeated.“We are as shocked as anyone else is about what happened,” he added.Thornberry said the allegations are “very serious,” adding that “it won’t do to hide behind a blanket refusal to discuss intelligence matters.”She questioned whether the foreign secretary would accept an invitation to a closed-door emergency session to discuss the matter with the Intelligence Security Commission.Hunt said he would accept such an invitation but added that the desire for him to reveal very important intelligence is “inappropriate.”- Saudi human rights“Saudi Arabia is a human rights country of concern for the Foreign Office. We have our regular discussions with them about our concerns,” Hunt also said during the session at parliament.Asked by Conservative MO Sir Desmond Swayne whether there are regrets over seeking the election of Saudi Arabia to the UN Human Rights Council, Hunt said: “There are all sorts of issues with respect to Saudi Arabia’s human rights record that are in sharp relief at the moment."He added: “But … I have spoken more clearly than any Western foreign minister that if the Khashoggi stories turn out to be true, that would be inconsistent with our values.”
UK foreign secretary: I was unaware of Khashoggi plot
The Turkish prosecutor looking into the death of Jamal Khashoggi has asked Saudi Arabia's prosecutor to say who sent the team involved in the journalist's killing, President Tayyip Erdoğan said on Tuesday.Speaking to reporters in parliament, Erdoğan said the Turkish prosecutor had told his Saudi counterpart that the 18 suspects in the case could be tried in Turkey. Saudi officials also needed to reveal the identity of a local cooperator said to have been involved in Khashoggi's disappearance, he said.Saudi Arabia's Chief Prosecutor Saud Al Mojeb on Tuesday arrived at the Consulate of Saudi Arabia in Istanbul as part of probe into slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi.'Jamal Khashoggi deserves a dignified burial'He had previously visited his Turkish counterpart at the Çağlayan Courthouse.Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and a critic of Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was killed inside the Consulate of Saudi Arabia in Istanbul after he went there to obtain documents for his forthcoming marriage.After denying any involvement in the disappearance of Khashoggi, 59, for two weeks, Saudi Arabia on Oct. 20 acknowledged his death, saying he had died in a fistfight.Since then, Saudi Arabia’s public prosecutor said Khashoggi’s killing was premeditated, contradicting the previous official statement that it happened accidentally during a tussle in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.Turkey denies top Saudi prosecutor’s request for whole Khashoggi file: reportKhashoggi fiancee says Riyadh behind his murder, criticises Trump response"Turkey will destroy terror structures in east of Euphrates"He also said that Turkey will destroy terror structures in the east of the Euphrates River in Syria, adding that the intervention there had begun and more extensive operations will be launched soon."We will walk over terror groups with more effective operations."The Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) on Sunday bombed positions belonging to terrorists of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)’s Syrian affiliate, the YPG, on the eastern shore of the Euphrates River in Syria.Artillery shells were fired at the YPG-occupied Zour Magyar to the west of northern Syria's Ayn al-Arab region and was aimed at preventing terrorist activities.Russia-Turkey forum to be held in AntalyaHe said that Turkey would bring down all terror nests on the eastern side of Euphrates. "We have finished all our preparations, plans, program regarding the issue," he added.He said that Turkey cannot "look to the future with confidence without solving the Syrian issue".Syria has only just begun to emerge from a devastating conflict that began in 2011 when the Assad regime cracked down on demonstrators with unexpected ferocity.The powers using terror groups as tools to reach their goals are trying to revive Daesh in Syria, Erdoğan warned.Turkey says Idlib deal going as planned, no issue in implementation But, he said, Turkey would never allow them to drag Syria into chaos and bloodshed by inciting the regime or reviving Daesh in the region."Neither people in the region nor the world believe in the Daesh game," said Erdoğan.More than 300 people lost their lives in Daesh-claimed attacks in Turkey, where the terror organization has targeted civilians in suicide bomb, rocket, and gun attacks in recent years.
Erdoğan says Turkish prosecutor asked Saudi counterpart who sent Khashoggi's killers
According to Turkish officials, Khashoggi was attacked the moment he entered the consulate, his fingers were severed, and he was injected with a drug before being dismembered by an autopsy specialist who arrived in Istanbul with a bone saw, wrote the board.
"What the Turks still don’t know has been publicly voiced by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan: Where is Mr. Khashoggi’s body? And who ordered and oversaw this grisly operation?" it said.
"The Saudis know the answers to both those questions, and Mr. Trump might, too. Experts on Saudi Arabia are virtually unanimous in saying that such an audacious mission must have been known about, and most likely was ordered, by the kingdom’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman," it said.
The board said that Congress should summon CIA Director Gina Haspel, who was in Turkey last week and briefed Trump, and other senior U.S. officials and determine what they know about the killing.
"Then it should take decisive action to impose sanctions on those responsible — including, if the available evidence points to him, Mohammed bin Salman — and reshape U.S. relations with Saudi Arabia," said the board.
Erdoğan said 18 people arrested in Saudi Arabia for the killing should be extradited to Turkey to face trial, while Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said the kingdom would try the suspects after an investigation is completed.
Slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi deserves a “dignified burial,” so “please hand over his body,” Daud Abdullah, the director of Middle East Monitor, is pleading Saudi authorities.Abdullah spoke to Anadolu Agency before a memorial event in London to remember Khashoggi, organized by not-for-profit press monitoring organization Middle East Monitor and the Al Sharq Forum, an independent pro-democracy, non-partisan, non-profit think-tank focusing on the greater Mideast.He said the gathering Monday was organized to recognize Khashoggi’s achievements as a journalist and internationalist.“In the latter years of his life he was based in Washington at the Washington Post,” Abdullah said, adding that this gave him a platform to cast his message far and wide.Abdullah said Khashoggi spread his message of “equality for justice and freedom.”Underlining how Saudi authority admitted that Khashoggi was killed in their Istanbul Consulate after weeks of denial, he urged them to hand over the journalist’s body.“We have just one message [for the Saudis]: We plead in the name of the God, for God’s sake, hand over the body!”“He is entitled to have a dignified burial,” he added.However, he added, the case will not be closed until those responsible for the murder are held accountable.Saudi prosecutor arrives at consulate in Istanbul as Khashoggi probe continues‘No ordinary crime’Galip Dalay, research director of the Al Sharq Forum, thinks Khashoggi was no victim of an ordinary crime.Also speaking to Anadolu Agency, Dalay said the last two events the Saudi journalist attended were organized late last month by the Al Sharq Forum in Istanbul and Middle East Monitor in London -- the latter just four days before his death -- and this is why the two organizations are hosting the memorial event.“Jamal was not killed in a petty criminal activity,” he said.Khashoggi was killed in a “premeditated” action ordered by top-level authorities in Saudi Arabia, Dalay said.“All the findings... are pointing to [Crown Prince] Mohammed bin Salman; in one way or another, [they] link the case to Mohammed bin Salman.”Dalay said merely prosecuting those who killed Khashoggi will not satisfy justice.He said: “Who gave the order? What was the network? Who was involved in this case from the political level?Iranian FM hails Turkish stance on Khashoggi’s murderTurkish FM calls on Saudi Arabia to reveal 'whole truth' on Khashoggi killing“They should also be brought to justice,” he said, adding that this should pave the way to a “universal jurisdiction” regarding the killing.Khashoggi’s journalist friends, human rights activists, politicians, and academics joined the memorial service held in central London.The meeting saw an emotional speech from Khashoggi’s fiancée Hatice Cengiz, who got an ovation lasting minutes.The event, titled “Remembering Jamal,” also featured speeches by Abdullah, Conservative MP Crispin Blunt, and some prominent journalists.Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist and columnist for The Washington Post, went missing after entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2.After weeks of denying any knowledge of his whereabouts, on Oct. 19 Saudi officials admitted that Khashoggi had died inside the consulate building.Turkish police have been investigating the case, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said 18 people arrested in Saudi Arabia over the killing should be sent to Turkey to face trial.
'Jamal Khashoggi deserves a dignified burial'
Saudi Arabia's Chief Prosecutor Saud Al Mojeb on Tuesday visited the Consulate of Saudi Arabia in Istanbul as part of probe into slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi.He had previously visited his Turkish counterpart at the Çağlayan courthouse.Mojeb and the accompanying delegation left the consulate after spending one-and-half-hours inside.Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and a critic of Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was killed inside the Consulate of Saudi Arabia in Istanbul after he went there to obtain documents for his forthcoming marriage.Erdoğan says Turkish prosecutor asked Saudi counterpart who sent Khashoggi's killersAfter denying any involvement in the disappearance of Khashoggi, 59, for two weeks, Saudi Arabia on Oct. 20 acknowledged his death, saying he had died in a fistfight.Since then, Saudi Arabia’s public prosecutor said Khashoggi’s killing was premeditated, contradicting the previous official statement that it happened accidentally during a tussle in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.Riyadh's numerous shifting accounts of the killing have undermined Prince Mohammed's standing.'Jamal Khashoggi deserves a dignified burial'Saudi prosecutor revisits Istanbul court house in Khashoggi investigationTurkey denies top Saudi prosecutor’s request for whole Khashoggi file: report
Saudi prosecutor leaves consulate in Istanbul as Khashoggi probe continues