Protocol to the Khashoggi case: Saudi Arabia confirms the assassination



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Death of Jamal Khashoggi († 60), journalist and critic of the Saudi government who died on October 2 at the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul. The Saudis first confirmed their badbadination in their embbady Friday night through their state media. The Gulf State has already presented for two weeks the version according to which Khashoggi should have left the consulate abruptly the same day. Now turn 180 degrees.

According to the latest version of the Saudis, Khashoggi would have died after a "fight" inside the consulate. A "discussion" between him and "those whom he met at the Kingdom's consulate in Istanbul" would have turned into a fight that would have resulted in the death of the "Washington Post" reporter. This reported the Saudi SPA agency with reference to the prosecutor. At the same time, 18 arrests and dismissals of the vice-president of the secret services, Ahmad al-Assiri, as well as those of Saud al-Kahtani, high councilor of the king, were announced.

The Turkish version relies on audio recordings

Although the Saudis did indeed confirm the badbadination of Khashoggi, but the media do not report the barbaric torture, the government critic had to move to action before his disappearance. Turkish investigators believe that Khashoggi was deliberately killed by an badbadination squad consisting of 15 people who entered and left the country the same day.

On sound recordings, you should hear how the torturers cut Khashoggi's fingers before he missed an injection. Subsequently, Saudi medical examiner Salah Muhammed Al-Tubaigy dismembered with a bone saw. When he went into action, he would have put on a helmet and told other torturers: "When I do this job, I hear music, you should do it too."

Trump adorns itself with an agreement on a billion guns

The Khashoggi affair has caused a sensation all over the world. The economy immediately reacted. Several CEOs announced their absence from the investor summit in Riyadh at the end of the month. Major cancellations include Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan, Ford President Bill Ford, AOL founder Steve Case and Uber boss Dara Khosrowshahi. CS director Thiam and ABB director Ulrich Spiesshofer also donated a basket to the event, also known as "Davos in the desert".

In the United States, the Khashoggi badbadination caused a lot of turmoil. Because the reporter not only wrote for one of the most prestigious newspapers in the country, he also lived in the United States. US President Donald Trump (72) has long accused the Saudis of his badbadination. He has time and again referred to the agreement of billions of weapons that he had signed. "The Russians would have liked the work, as well as the Chinese," said Trump. He would not risk business and billions of dollars now, so his point of view.

Midweek: the pressure has increased

But the pressure has become bigger and bigger. Thursday night, a day before the Saudis admit the murder of Khashoggi, Trump tightened his tone for the first time. It does not look good, the US president told the New York Times. "If the miracle of all miracles does not happen, we must confess that he's dead," says Trump. It would be "bad, very bad" and should have "serious consequences".

On Friday, just hours before the admission of the Saudis, Trump had announced new findings in the Khashoggi case in the coming days. "We'll know a lot in the next two or three days," he said at a concert in Scottsdale, Arizona. "I could know a lot about Monday." The president has not ruled out sanctions against Saudi Arabia. When asked, he said, "Could be, could be."

Trump: "A very big first step"

When the latest Saudi version arrived in Washington on Friday night, the otherwise impulsive White House and its Twitter president remained docile. After an hour, the government released a thin statement. Take note of the latest findings of Saudi Arabia and will continue to monitor international investigations closely. In addition, Khashoggi's members were condoled. Nobody wanted to comment on the possible consequences.

Towards the end of the evening, the US President in Arizona again commented. When a reporter asked him if he believed the Saudi version credible, he replied, "Yes, yes." It was only a first step, but "a very big one". He still has questions to ask Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and will call him soon. He welcomed the arrests.

Trump's friends clamoring for consequences

Trump's party colleagues were much more aggressive. US Republican Senator Lindsay Graham tweeted Friday night: "It would be a euphemism to say that I was skeptical about the new Saudi account of Mr. Khashoggi's death." and there was a general denial of any Saudi entanglement. "Now a quarrel would have suddenly broken out, and all this without the knowledge of the Crown Prince," he added skeptically.

His colleague Rand Paul called for immediate consequences. All military sales and badistance to Saudi Arabia should be immediately stopped, he wrote on Twitter. Republican Bob Corke called on the United States to open a separate investigation. The story of the Saudis changes "every day". The US government must therefore launch its own "independent and credible" investigation into the responsibility for Khashoggi's murder, he wrote on Twitter.

US Congressman Eric Swalwell has urged Saudi Arabia to enlighten the United States on the location of Khashoggi's body. "Where is the corpse?", Wrote the Democratic deputy on Twitter. Khashoggi's family was determined to be able to take care of his mortal remains immediately.

Jamal Khashoggi († 60)

The man that Saudi Arabia feared

Last year, Jamal Khashoggi left a country whose transformation closed him more and more. The journalist was no longer allowed to write and, around him, more and more friends and acquaintances were arrested, he told the German press agency DPA in June. Under the leadership of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the critical commentator saw no future for himself, but only a growing danger.

Although he is a supporter of the reform course, but "now in exile because I do not want to end up in jail," he said at the time. He fled to the United States, where he has now lived. Khashoggi apparently did not consider the possibility of being killed abroad when he entered the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul in early October. On Saturday night, many people already suspected this for days: the 60-year-old was killed in the diplomatic mission.

Khashoggi came from a well known Saudi family in Medina. His grandfather was a doctor and treated the king, his uncle Adnan was a reputable arms dealer. In his early years, he went to study in the United States, but he valued not only democratic values, but also Islamists. He would have at least been close to the Muslim Brotherhood and maintained personal contacts with his members until today.

As a journalist, Khashoggi drew attention for the first time as Osama bin Laden's first companion, when he led the resistance struggle against the Soviet occupiers in Afghanistan. He himself is considered a conservative and at times critical of the West, but rejected bin Laden's radicalization and detached himself from the terrorist bush.

In Saudi Arabia, he has had a career in journalism in several newspapers and as a correspondent in different countries. He built his already strong social status with good contacts with powerful members of the largely ramified royal family. Meanwhile, Khashoggi even worked as a consultant and unofficial speaker of the royal family.

His critical nature led him to become a journalist repeatedly problems with autocratic power: suppressed columns, 2003 and 2010, he was sacked as editor of the newspaper "Al-Watan". But threatening Saudi Arabia for the tall man until the rise of Mohammed bin Salman to the heir to the throne and to the most powerful man of the state as of 2015.

Crown Prince Mohammed broke the balancing structures in the highest spheres of Saudi power and took more and more power. He does not tolerate the contradiction, which led Jamal Khashoggi to exile himself. Especially as a columnist of the "Washington Post", he then clearly criticized the political course of Riad.

The leader of Saudi Arabia was increasingly dissatisfied with the Washington column and 1.7 million followers on Twitter. Khashoggi himself never understood this insecurity of the young heir to the throne: "Mohammed bin Salman has no reason to worry, there is no opposition in the country," he said in June. . (SDA)

Posted on 20.10.2018 | Updated 8 minutes ago

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