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A SAUDI public prosecutor has revealed on state television that a primary investigation into high-profile journalist Jamal Khashoggi's disappearance has confirmed he is dead.
"The discussions between Jamal Khashoggi and those he met at the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul …" the public prosecutor said.
Eighteen nationals have reportedly been arrested in connection with the alleged murder.
The case has sparked global outrage as the mystery over his disappearance deepens.
But there is one person at the center of scandal who is yet to make public of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Turkish reports say Mr. Khashoggi, who had written columns of the Saudi government The Washington Post He has been living in the US for many years, was killed and dismembered inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. Mr Khashoggi has not been seen since he entered the consulate on October 2. He is believed to be a member of Saudi Arabia Prince Mohammed bin Salman are responsible for his death. The Saudis have dismissed those reports as baseless but have yet to explain what happened to the writer.
In Istanbul, a leaked surveillance photo showed a man who has been a member of the crown prince's entourage during trips to the Saudi Consulate just before Khashoggi vanished there – timing that drew the kingdom's heir-apparent closer to the columnist's apparent demise.
Turkish officials say Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb flew in Istanbul on a private jet along with an "autopsy expert" October 2 and left that night.
A Turkish newspaper has also reported that the contents of the writer's Apple Watch recorded his brutal final moments.
According to The Sabah newspaper, authorities recovered the audio from Khashoggi's iPhone and his iCloud account, which were synched to his watch.
It's believed to be hatched, Hatice Cengiz before entering the consulate to arrange paperwork for his marriage.
The tape, if it's authentic, supposedly reveals Mr Khashoggi had his fingers cut off. According to local media, his panicked dying screams could be heard before he was "injected with an unknown drug" and went off the grid.
Despite intense scrutiny on Prince bin Salman, who is suspected of being the mastermind behind the possible killing, he is yet to respond to the accusations. But there have been top secret talks behind close doors.
A US official said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo this week warned the crown prince that his credibility as a future leader was at stake. The prince is next in line for the throne held by his elderly father King Salman.
Mr Pompeo said the Saudis should be given a public opinion credible investigation before the US decides how to respond to the situation.
"They made clear to me that they understand the serious nature of the disappearance of Mr Khashoggi," he said.
"They also badure me that they will conduct a thorough, thorough investigation of all the facts around Mr Khashoggi and that they will do so in a timely fashion."
Mr Pompeo said that whatever the answer might be, it would be important to consider the importance of the longstanding US-Saudi partnership. He said, "They're an important strategic ally of the US, and we need to be mindful of that."
US President Donald Trump said Thursday it "certainly looks" as though it was missing the dead.
"It's bad, bad stuff," he said.
"But we'll see what happens."
After talking with King Salman over the phone on Monday, Mr Trump said the political dictator denied knowledge of what happened to Khashoggi.
"Maybe it was rogue killers – who knows?" Mr Trump said.
His Secretary of State Steven Mnuchin had pulled out of a major upcoming Saudi investment conference.
The messaging underscored the administration's concern about the effect the case could have on relations with a close and valuable strategic partner. Increasingly upset US politicians have condemned the Saudis and questioned the seriousness with which Mr Trump and his top aides are treating the matter, while the president has emphasized the trillions of dollars in Saudis purchase from the US.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo returned last night from Saudi Arabia and Turkey. The situation is discussed in detail, including his meeting with …
– Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 18, 2018
… the Crown Prince. He is waiting for the results of the investigations being done by the Saudis and Turkey, and just gave a news conference to that effect.
– Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 18, 2018
'THIS GUY IS A WRECKING BALL'
According to US media reports, the kingdom is considering that Mr Khashoggi died after an interrogation that went wrong during an abduction.
CNN reports Saudi Arabia might release the information in a written report, but the details were subject to change. Citing two unnamed sources, the cable news network allegedly the report would be held responsible.
US Vice President Mike Pence said earlier in Colorado that "the world deserves answers" about what happened to Mr Khashoggi, "and those who are responsible for being held to account."
Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the conservative kingdom's most vocal defenders in Congress and a close ally of Mr Trump, said the Crown Prince has "got to go".
Senator Graham vowed never to return to the country as long as the young leader remains in power.
"This guy is a wrecking ball. He had this guy murdered in a consulate in Turkey, "he said Fox & Friends.
He said Prince bin Salman was "toxic" and should "never be a world leader on the world stage".
T HE RISE AND FALL OF MOHAMMED BIN SALMAN
When Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman came to power in 2015, he was seen as a sign of the shifting sands in Saudi Arabia.
The 33-year-old leader pushes plans to transform the country into a modern state through a series of reforms that would secure its economic future. The ultraconservative kingdom lifted its way in this year.
Prince Bin Salman boasted a "Vision 2030" plan to ease social controls in the kingdom and embrace a more open and tolerant interpretation of Islam.
He was the young reformer and brought to the world, with Western diplomats hailing him as a breath of fresh air in the regressive nation.
This article was published in the English version of the document But it worked.
Despite his country's atrocious human rights record, Prince bin Salman was received in the US like a celebrity in April.
Time Magazine featured him on its cover. He had televised interviews with western media outlets, with 60 Minutes hailing him as a "revolutionary" who was "emancipating women". He dined with Morgan Freeman, Director James Cameron and The Rock, who posted on Instagram that it was a "pleasure" meeting and a "fascinating experience".
But it has been severely tarnished on many occasions – he arrested at least seven high-profile women's activists in May, detained Lebanon leader Saad Hariri and allegedly forced him to resign, and threatened to arrest anyone who dared question his reforms.
Late last year, he was behind a Game Of Thrones-style purge billed as an "anti-corruption" campaign, detaining dozens of members of Saudi Arabia's political and business elite accused of corruption.
Under his watch, Saudi Arabia intervened in the civil war in neighboring Yemen, entered a mbadive diplomatic spat with Canada, and isolated Qatar.
But it was the mysterious disappearance of one of his most prominent critics, Mr. Khashoggi, who has struck a major shift in the public perception of Prince bin Salman in the West.
THE TRUTH COSTS
In the meantime, international pressure to mount against Prince bin Salman and the Saudis, with France, Germany, the UK and the US pushing for answers.
Representatives from more than a dozen western news outlets, including The New York Times, The Financial Times, Bloomberg and The Economist, have removed their media sponsorship and withdrawn from an upcoming international conference to be hosted by the prince, according to Axios.
Meanwhile, top technology executives have started the Neom project advisory board, an ambitious $ 500 billion project by the kingdom as a sustainable futuristic megacity.
Apple's Chief Design Officer Jony Ive, US Secretary of Energy Ernest Moriz, Footpath Labs Dan Doctoroff, and Vice President of the European Commission Neelie Kroes have all suspended their involvement in the project.
And Hollywood agency Endeavor Content is pulling out of a $ 400 million investment deal in the country, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Earlier this week, Saudi journalist Turki Aldakhil warned the US it would "stab its own economy to death" if it retaliated with sanctions.
In a blistering opinion piece, Mr Aldakhil warned such actions would have caused a high price of $ 200 barrel, drive the Middle East to Iran and lead Riyadh to permit to Russian military base in the city of Tabuk.
"If US sanctions are imposed on Saudi Arabia, we would be facing an economic disaster that would rock the entire world," Mr Aldakhil wrote for the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya news channel.
"If the price of oil reaches $ 80 angered President Trump, no one should rule out the price jumping to $ 100, or $ 200, or even double that figure."
– With wires
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