New disturbing details have emerged over the suspected slaying of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post columnist who disappeared after being seen entering a Saudi consulate in Istanbul more than two weeks ago. In a sit-down interview with U.S. media, a close friend of Khashoggi’s told ABC News what he had been told in briefings by Turkish security officials.
“I talked with some Turkish government and security officials and they said Jamal was killed. I didn’t know what to do. I really couldn’t answer. Then I called a few colleagues, again security officials, trying to have them verify it, saying ‘Is this really true?’” Turan Kislakci said Wednesday. “They said, ‘Yes, Turan, and let’s tell you even beyond that, he was killed in a very barbaric way.’ I was shocked. They not only kill him in the consulate, but also in a barbaric way.”
Khashoggi, who has written critically about the Saudi government, reportedly told his fiancée to call two individuals — one being Kislakci — if he ever was in trouble.
According to USA Today, pro-government Turkish newspaper Yeni Safak published Wednesday a lurid account of what it said was the journalist’s murder. The newspaper said it had received an audio recording of the Khashoggi’s slaying in which Saudi Consul General Mohammed al-Otaibi could be heard telling those allegedly torturing the journalist: “Do this outside; you’re going to get me in trouble.” According to the report, a torturer replied: “Shut up if you want to live when you return to (Saudi) Arabia.”
via April Brady/Project on Middle East Democracy
The newspaper said the journalist was tortured and dismembered, with the execution lasting seven minutes. The New York Times later confirmed the Turkish newspaper’s report of the audio recording, citing an unnamed senior Turkish official.
For the past two weeks, Turkish officials have claimed in various leaks to state-run media and some U.S. outlets that they have audio and video evidence that Khashoggi was murdered in the Saudi consulate. Police investigators searched the consulate on Tuesday and said that they have evidence the journalist was killed there.
Kislakci told ABC News that Turkish officials told him that they have an audio recording of what transpired.
“They said, ‘We have audio on this. We know all the details about what transpired.’ They said, ‘We were able to access this the first day, and we have various other evidence on this,’” he said.
Khashoggi, who had been living in the United States, visited the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2 to file paperwork for his wedding, and has not been seen since. Kislakci said Khashoggi walked into the consulate and was given a document to sign, but refused. He then was killed.
Saudi Arabia’s leadership has denied the allegations.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters Wednesday while returning to Washington D.C. following a series of meetings in Saudi Arabia and Turkey over this growing diplomatic crisis that the Trump administration was giving the Saudi government more time to complete its investigation, USA Today reports.
“It’s reasonable to give them a handful of days more to complete it so they get it right,” Pompeo told reporters, adding that the Trump administration would judge whether the investigation was credible or not upon its completion.
When asked whether the inquiry would be completed in a matter of days, Pompeo said, “That’s what they’ve indicated they need. And then we’ll get to see it. We’ll evaluate this on a factual straight-up basis.”
President Donald Trump, however, has appeared to give the Saudi government the benefit of the doubt, saying, “We’re not going to walk away from Saudi Arabia,” Trump said. “I don’t want to do that.”
When asked Wednesday whether the president was covering for the Saudis part in Khashoggi’s disappearance, Trump said: “No, not at all. I just want to find out what’s happening.”
Trump said he expected to know who was responsible for the journalist’s alleged murder “by the end of the week.”
“With that being said, Saudi Arabia has been a very important ally of ours in the Middle East,” Trump said.