Journalist Jamal Khashoggi was strangled almost immediately after he entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, according to the first in-depth report from the Istanbul Chief Prosecutor’s Office.
Khashoggi, who had been a critic of the Saudi regime, was then dismembered, it said.
“In accordance with plans made in advance, the victim, Jamal Khashoggi, was choked to death immediately after entering the Consulate General of Saudi Arabia,” concluded the report.
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It was released following talks with Saudi Arabia’s public prosecutor Saud Al Mojeb, which apparently ended with “no concrete results”.
The whereabouts of Khashoggi’s body remains the subject of much speculation, according to Hurriyet Daily News columnist Abdulkadir Selvi, who wrote that Turkish officials harbour a “deep mistrust” of Mojeb after he repeatedly refused to answer questions about where the slain journalist’s body had been taken.
“Turkey, the US and Saudi Arabia have all agreed that he was killed at the consulate. There is still no consensus on how he died,” says the BBC
Riyadh has formally denied that the body was removed from the consulate in a rug and handed over to a “local co-operator” for disposal, claims made by an unnamed Saudi official speaking to Reuters news agency.
Turkey has stopped short of blaming Saudi Arabia, but hinted that the murder could not have taken place without orders from someone in a senior position.