The SUN/
Jamal Khashoggi had his fingers hacked off one by one by his torturers before he was decapitated and his body was dissolved in acid, according to horrific new reports.
The journalist was allegedly carved up with a bone saw while alive in a horrifying seven-minute execution carried out by a “hit squad” listening to music on headphones.
Evidence suggests the 59-year-old regime critic was tortured to death, dismembered and smuggled out of the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in an execution supervised by autopsy specialist Salah Muhammad al-Tubaiqi.
The Saudi “Dr Death” was seen in Istanbul while an agent with a bone-cutter tool was said to be part of a 15-strong kill team.
The team are alleged to have removed the dismembered body in 15 plastic bags before it was dissolved in acid, according to Turkish media reports.
A source told the Washington Post they heard a recording from the writer’s Apple Watch capturing the moment he was allegedly dragged into a study to be drugged and butchered.
Mohammad al-Otaibi, the Saudi Consul in Istanbul, left Turkey just hours before Turkish investigators entered the consul.
The anonymous source said Khashoggi – a Saudi journalist based in the US – can be heard screaming as he’s dragged from the Consul General’s office to a desk in the other room.
The recording also reveals he had fingers cut off and was told to “shut up” or face being killed, it’s been reported in Turkey.
Yeni Safak, a pro-government newspaper, said the Saudi General Consul Mohammad al-Otaibi could be heard telling those allegedly torturing Khashoggi: “Do this outside, you’re going to get me in trouble.”
The newspaper said one of the Saudi “torturers” replied: “Shut up if you want to live when you return to (Saudi) Arabia.”
Gen al-Otaibi left Turkey on a commercial flight on Tuesday just hours before Turkish investigators entered his residence.
The source told the Middle East Eye: “There was no attempt to interrogate him. They had come to kill him.”
They also said that the 52-year-old’s cries and screams were heard by witnesses downstairs before his body was “cut into pieces”.
It comes as a Turkish official claimed there was evidence Khashoggi had been tortured to death, “cut into pieces” and smuggled out.
The high-level dignitary, who didn’t want to be named, said that police found “certain evidence” of Khashoggi’s slaying at the consulate, without elaborating.
Earlier Donald Trump claimed Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman “denied all knowledge” of Khashoggi’s mysterious disappearance.
The US President said the crown prince told him an investigation was underway and promised he would get answers surrounding the writer’s fate.
He went on to slam criticism of Saudi Arabia as a case of “guilty until proven innocent” – and compared it to to the allegations of sexual assault surrounding Brett Kavanaugh.
Trump defended what he characterised as efforts to condemn Riyadh over Khashoggi’s disappearance before all the facts were known.
The 59-year-old, who wrote critically about the Saudis for the Washington Post, disappeared on October 2 after travelling to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to pick up paperwork he needed to get married.
The Washington Post last night published passport scans of the seven Saudi men alleged to have been part of Khashoggi’s disappearance, which they say were provided by Turkish officials.
The newspaper obscured the faces and names of the men because their identities have not been independently verified.
Meanwhile, The New York Times named Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb – assigned to the Saudi London embassy in 2007 – as a suspect.
He often travelled with Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman.
Three others are reportedly linked by witnesses and other records to the Saudi crown prince’s security detail.
A fifth is said to be a doctor with links to the Saudi Interior Ministry and medical establishment.
On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo travelled to Saudi Arabia to talk to King Salman and the 33-year-old crown prince about the fate of the journalist.
He said: “In each of those meetings I stressed the importance of them conducting a complete investigation into the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi. They made a commitment to do that.
“They said it would be a thorough, complete and transparent investigation,” he said. “They indicated they understood that getting that done in a timely, rapid fashion so they could begin to answer important questions.”
Asked whether they said Khashoggi was alive or dead, Pompeo said: “They didn’t talk about any of the facts.”
This morning he landed in Ankara for talks with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan.
Trump said after a phone call with the Crown Prince that he “totally denied any knowledge of what took place in their Turkish Consulate.”
Writing in a tweet, the president said the crown prince “told me that he has already started, and will rapidly expand, a full and complete investigation into this matter.”
He added: “Answers will be forthcoming shortly.”
The president also told Fox News if the Saudi King or Crown Prince knew what had happened to the writer, “that would be bad”.
He said: “It depends whether or not the king or the crown prince knew about it, in my opinion, number one, what happened, but whether or not they knew about it.
“If they knew about it that would be bad.”
Authorities appeared ready to also search the nearby residence of the consul general after the diplomat left the country.
Saudi officials have called Turkish allegations that a team of 15 Saudi agents killed Khashoggi “baseless,” but US media reports suggested that the kingdom may acknowledge the writer was killed at the consulate, perhaps as part of a botched interrogation.
The close US ally is ruled entirely by the Al Saud monarchy, and all major decisions in the ultraconservative kingdom are made by the royal family.
Washington Post Publisher and CEO Fred Ryan said the Saudi government “owes the Khashoggi family and the world a full and honest explanation of everything that happened to him.”
He said: “The Saudi government can no longer remain silent, and it is essential that our own government and others push harder for the truth.”
Leaked surveillance video show diplomatic cars travelled to the consul general’s home shortly after Khashoggi went into the consulate.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said today that police sought traces of “toxic” materials and suggested parts of the consulate had been recently painted, without elaborating.
Trump previously warned of “severe punishment” for the kingdom if it was found to be involved in Khashoggi’s disappearance, which has spooked investors.
Trump’s warning drew an angry response from Saudi Arabia and its state-linked media, including a suggestion that Riyadh could wield its oil production as a weapon.
The US president has been after King Salman and OPEC to boost production to drive down high oil prices, caused in part by the coming re-imposition of oil sanctions on Iran.
On Monday, however, Trump offered a different theory after speaking by telephone with King Salman.
“It sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers,” Trump said. “I mean, who knows? We’re going to try getting to the bottom of it very soon, but his was a flat denial.”
Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt and his G7 counterparts today said they are “very troubled” by the disappearance of Khashoggi and insist those responsible must be held to account.
In the statement, foreign ministers from the G7 group of leading economies,said: “We remain very troubled by the disappearance of prominent Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
“Those bearing responsibility for his disappearance must be held to account.
“We encourage Turkish-Saudi collaboration and look forward to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia conducting a thorough, credible, transparent, and prompt investigation, as announced.”
0