Sat Nov 17, 2018 - Saudi Media Ignore US Reports on Khashoggi
Farsnews
Saudi mainstream media completely ignored reports that the CIA has concluded that Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, ordered the killing of prominent journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Sat Nov 17, 2018 - Arab Daily: Riyadh Plans to Hang Agents to Insulate MbS from Khashoggi's Death
Farsnews
A leading Arabic-language newspaper wrote that Saudi Arabia wants to exonerate Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman by hanging a number of agents who killed and dismembered prominent journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul last month.
The Arabic-language al-Quds al-Arabi quoted Turkish sources as saying on Saturday that Ankara is concerned that Saudi Arabia will execute the agents behind Khashoggi's assassination in a bid to protect bin Salman against any responsibility.
It added that Turkey considers the move as part of a scheme to ruin evidence and documents proving who had ordered Khashoggi's assassination.
According to the paper, the decision to execute 5 agents who were directly involved in Khashoggi's killing was made by Saudi Arabia one day after the Turkish foreign minister said that Khashoggi's case should be studied at an international court.
November 16, 2018 - Saudi Ambassador denies telling Khashoggi to go to Turkey
Saudi ambassador denies telling Khashoggi to go to Turkey | Reuters
Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Washington on Saturday denied that he had spoken with Jamal Khashoggi by telephone or that he had suggested he go to Turkey “for any reason,” after the Washington Post reported that he had done so, citing people familiar with U.S. intelligence.
“I ask the US government to release any information regarding this claim,” the ambassador, Prince Khaled bin Salman, said on Twitter.
Sat Nov 17, 2018 - Report: Turkey to Use Intercepted Saudi Comms to Demolish Khashoggi Cover-up
Farsnews
Turkey has a complete record of communications in and out of Saudi Arabia’s Istanbul consulate in the week of Jamal Khashoggi’s murder, a senior Turkish source told Middle East Eye (MEE). The communications will be used to tear apart Riyadh's latest version of the killing.
The recordings, MEE has learned, have given Turkey a detailed picture of the various operatives, teams and missions issued from Saudi Arabia, and the contents of the communications, the source said, will turn the screw on a Saudi leadership that has sought to insulate itself from the scandal.
According to the source, Turkey intends to drip feed the information gleaned from the communications to the media, as it has been doing ever since Khashoggi was brutally murdered by a team of 15 Saudis on October 2.
The Khashoggi-related conversations that Turkish intelligence intercepted began when the Washington Post columnist first came to his country’s consulate on September 28 in an attempt to get papers required to remarry.
The plan to kill Khashoggi, who was told to return to the consulate four days later, began to be hatched the moment he left the building, the source added.
“We know what happened in the consulate from the day Jamal stepped inside on Friday 28 September, to three days after the murder on 2 October,” the source told MEE.
“We know when the teams arrived, what they discussed with the consul-general, how they prepared themselves, how they were divided into groups, what mission each group had,” the source added.
Key conversations, the source said, were those between Consul-General Mohammad al-Otaibi and Saudi security attache Ahmed Abdullah al-Muzaini.
Muzaini has so far been spared much of the spotlight. It is unknown if he is one of at least 21 suspects detained in Saudi Arabia.
But Turkish newspaper Sabah, which is close to the government, has described Muzaini as the brains behind the plot.
On the day of Khashoggi’s murder, the conversations of one man are especially important.
MEE understands that
Maher Abdulaziz Mutrib, the leader of the death squad sent to kill the journalist, made 19 calls to Riyadh on October 2.
Four of those, MEE has learned, were to Saoud al-Qahtani, top aide to Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman (MbS).
According to the senior Turkish source, Qahtani was running the operation from the crown prince’s office.
The mission had been signed off by deputy intelligence chief Ahmed al-Assiri, but operations were largely in Qahtani’s hands, the source noted.
Both Assiri and Qahtani have been removed from their positions and are implicated in the Saudi prosecutor’s latest version of events, which was released on Thursday.
Puzzling to the Turkish source, however, is US intelligence’s knowledge of a phone conversation between Mutrib and Riyadh, where the team leader is apparently heard saying “tell your boss” following Khashoggi’s death.
Those words, which were apparently accompanied by “the deed is done”, were relayed to the New York Times by US intelligence officials.
MEE’s source, who is familiar with all the information Turkey has on the Khashoggi case, said the US’s intelligence expertise and spying technology may have allowed it to reveal more from audio shared between the two countries.
When CIA Chief Gina Haspel visited Turkey on October 23 for consultations over Khashoggi, she apparently arrived with a team of some 35 people.
Amongst them were experts in deciphering recordings, linguists, people familiar with the Saudi accent and people who could enhance audio, the source said.
Turkish intelligence officers were surprised when their US counterparts revealed the “boss” conversation, having missed that in the communications.
But according to the source,
they told the Americans it was almost certainly Qahtani that Mutrib was talking to.
The Turks will listen to the tapes again, the source stated, and see what else was missed in the audio’s distortion.
Turkey’s understanding of Saudi movements and plans does not end on October 5, however.
According to the source, on October 15, the day after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Saudi Arabia's King Salman spoke by phone, Riyadh dispatched two men to Istanbul tasked with covering up the murder.
“After the first phone call between Erdogan and King Salman, Erdogan accepted King Salman’s offer to establish a joint security investigation,” the source said, adding that “the Saudis immediately sent a 15-man team. Two of these were people whose only mission was to destroy the evidence”.
On Monday, Sabah reported that a chemist, Ahmad Abdulaziz Aljanobi, and toxicology expert, Khaled Yahya al-Zahrani, were among an 11-man “cover-up” team sent by Saudi Arabia to Istanbul on October 11.
However, MEE’s Turkish source understands that these two men were part of the second cover-up team, which only arrived after Erdogan and King Salman’s phone call. MEE could not independently verify this claim.
Turkey knew these men were arriving, the source noted, and were aware of the task set out for them.
Sat Nov 17, 2018 - Turkish Official: Khashoggi's Head Sent to Riyadh
Farsnews
A senior Turkish official said new intelligence shows that head of slain Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi journalist killed by Saudi Arabia in Istanbul last month, has been sent to the Crown Prince MbS in Riyadh.
The Arabic-language Khalij Online newspaper quoted the official as saying on Saturday that Khashoggi was beheaded and his head was sent to Riyadh and other parts of his dismembered body are in Turkey.
"After killing and dismembering Khashoggi's body by the Saudi team, it is not yet clear how his head was transferred to Riyadh, either via plane or via road or sea," it added.
The Turkish official referred to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's special bodyguard Mahir Mutrib, saying that he was one of the main culprits behind the crime and his luggage was not checked at Turkey's airport as he has diplomatic passport and his private plane was not inspected due to diplomatic impunity.
Sat Nov 17, 2018 - Khashoggi’s Body Injected with Clotting Agent to ‘Leave No Blood Trace’
Farsnews
The body of slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was injected with a “blood clotting agent” in one of the chilling attempts by the “hit squad” to cover-up the brutal murder in the Istanbul consulate as more gory details of the case continue to emerge.
According to Turkish security and judiciary officials, Khashoggi was “strangled and killed using a lethal dose of tranquilizers”, Yenisafak reported.
Khashoggi, a frequent contributor to The Washington Post, was killed October 2 inside the Saudi Consulate in Turkish city of Istanbul.
After weeks of denying any involvement in the crime, Saudi Arabia later admitted that Khashoggi had been killed inside the consulate but claimed the Saudi royal family had no prior knowledge of any plot to murder the journalist.
On Thursday, Saudi Arabia’s chief prosecutor’s office announced it had charged 11 out of 21 suspects in relation to the murder, seeking the death penalty for five of the suspects.
However, new information emerged claiming
the slain journalist’s body was injected with a “blood clotting agent” in order to prevent bleeding before the body was dismembered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul so as to not leave behind “a blood trace of the murder”.
According to reports,
Turkish investigators found traces of "hydrofluoric acid and other chemicals" inside a well at the Saudi consul general's home in Istanbul, suggesting Khashoggi’s body was dissolved in acid and other chemicals.
The CIA believes Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman ordered the killing of Khashoggi in Istanbul, sources familiar with the matter said on Friday, complicating President Donald Trump's efforts to preserve ties with a key US ally.
The sources stated that the CIA had briefed other parts of the US government, including Congress, on its assessment, which contradicts Saudi government assertions that MbS was not involved.
Sat Nov 17, 2018 - Daily: Turkey Has Second Audio Recording of Khashoggi Killing
Farsnews
The "hit-squad" sent from Saudi Arabia to murder Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul planned out their assassination methodically, contradicting key findings from the Saudi public prosecutor's office, a Turkish newspaper reported.
Abdulkadir Selvi, a columnist at Hurriyet, said Turkish authorities had a 15-minute audio recording where the Saudi team could be heard discussing and reviewing their plan, and reminding each other of their duties.
Selvi added that the strongest evidence of the premeditated nature of the killing could be heard in a seven minute audio recording he reported on last month.
In that recording, Khashoggi's "desperate attempts to survive" could be heard.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said recordings related to the killing of Khashoggi, which Ankara has shared with Western allies, are "appalling", and shocked a Saudi intelligence officer who listened to them, according to local Turkish media.
"We played the recordings regarding this murder to everyone who wanted them from us. Our intelligence organisation did not hide anything. We played them to all who wanted them including the Saudis, the USA, France, Canada, Germany, Britain," he added.
"The recordings are really appalling. Indeed when the Saudi intelligence officer listened to the recordings he was so shocked he said: 'This one must have taken heroin, only someone who takes heroin would do this'," Erdogan stated.
The Turkish president said that the murder of Khashoggi must have been ordered at the highest level of the Saudi government, but added that he did not think King Salman was responsible for the order.
"It must be revealed who gave them the order to murder," Erdogan added, referring to a comment by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman who previously said that the matter "will be clarified".
Saudi Arabia has admitted Khashoggi was killed inside its consulate in the Turkish city of Istanbul.
November 16, 2018 - CIA believes Saudi Crown Prince ordered Journalist's Killing: sources
CIA believes Saudi crown prince ordered journalist's killing: sources | Reuters
The CIA believes Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul, sources familiar with the matter said on Friday, complicating President Donald Trump’s efforts to preserve ties with a key U.S. ally.
The sources said the CIA had briefed other parts of the U.S. government, including Congress, on its assessment, which contradicts Saudi government assertions that Prince Mohammed was not involved.
The CIA’s finding, first reported by the Washington Post, is the most definitive U.S. assessment to date tying Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler directly to the killing.
The Saudi Embassy in Washington rejected the CIA assessment.
“The claims in this purported assessment is false,” a spokeswoman for the embassy said in a statement. “We have and continue to hear various theories without seeing the primary basis for these speculations.”
November 17, 2018 - Trump to discuss Khashoggi murder with Secretary of State Pompeo, CIA
Trump to discuss Khashoggi murder with Secretary of State Pompeo, CIA | Reuters
U.S. President Donald Trump talks to the media on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, U.S., before his departure to California, November 17, 2018. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas
U.S. President Donald Trump said he had not yet been briefed on the CIA's conclusions regarding the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, but that he would speak with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the CIA about the issue later on Saturday.
The CIA believes Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the country’s de-facto ruler, ordered Khashoggi’s killing, sources familiar with the matter said on Friday.
But Trump, speaking to reporters at the White House before flying to California, also reiterated that he had been told the crown prince had not played a role in the journalist’s death.
“We haven’t been briefed yet,” Trump said. “We will be talking with the CIA later and lots of others. I’ll be doing that while I’m on the plane. I’ll be speaking also with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.”
Khashoggi, a critic of the crown prince, was killed in October at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul when he went there to pick up documents he needed for his planned marriage.
Trump and top administration officials have said Saudi Arabia should be held to account for any involvement in Khashoggi’s death and have imposed sanctions on 17 Saudis for their role in the killing.
But they have also stressed the importance of Washington’s ties with Riyadh, even while U.S. lawmakers have called on the administration to punish Saudi Arabia over the murder.
