Saudi Arabia plans to execute five men who have been accused of the controversial murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The Saudi prosecution said that a total of 11 people have so far been charged for Khashoggi’s murder, which took place inside the Saudi embassy in Turkey on October 2.
Khashoggi was a Saudi journalist and an open critic of the kingdom’s regime. He was an op-ed writer for the US daily The Washington Post.
He was killed in a particularly gruesome manner. According to Turkish officials, Khashoggi was killed, his body was dismembered, the body parts were dissolved in acid and then the liquid remains were poured down a drain.
Khashoggi’s murder sparked global outrage. There was suspicion that Saudi regime itself had ordered the hit.
Turkey itself pointed the finger at Riyadh, saying that an assassination squad had arrived from Saudi Arabia with the sole purpose of killing Khashoggi, who was to visit the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
The days after Khashoggi’s murder were marked by shifting statements from the Saudis.
First, Riyadh said that Khashoggi had left its consulate in Istanbul alive. For around a week after Khashoggi’s death, Saudi Arabia maintained that the journalist was simply missing.
With international pressure mounting, Saudi Arabia on October 20 admitted that Khashoggi had died inside its embassy in Istanbul.
Saudi Arabia claimed that Khashoggi had met somebody inside the consulate and that they had an altercation that became a brawl that further turned into a fistfight. It was during this fistfight that Khashoggi was killed, Saudi Arabia said.
A few days later, Saudi Arabia changed its statement once again, saying that Khashoggi’s murder was a “mistake” and that it was carried out by “rouge” agents who were acting without the knowledge of the senior leadership of the Saudi intelligence.
And now, the Saudi Arabian prosecution service has said it will seek the death penalty for these “rogue” agents.
However, the allegations that Khashoggi’s murder was a hit ordered by the top Saudi leadership haven’t died. The New York Times reported just this week that Turkish intelligence had collected a phone recording that may link Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
According to the Times, one of Khashoggi’s assassins made a phone call to his superior shortly after the murder. “Tell your boss,” the assassin told his senior. The “boss” here is believed to Mohammed bin Salman, or MBS as he known.