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Saudi Arabia’s government acknowledged that journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed inside its consulate in Istanbul, saying he died after “a brawl and a fist fight.”
In a statement carried by Saudi state television early Saturday, the government’s attorney general said 18 Saudi citizens have been detained pending the final results of a continuing investigation into the death of Mr. Khashoggi, a prominent Saudi journalist and government critic.
“Discussions between citizen Jamal Khashoggi and those who met him while he was in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul led to a brawl and a fist fight, which led to his death,” the statement said, citing the preliminary findings of the investigation.
Mr. Khashoggi was last seen entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2. He was accompanied to the entrance by his fiancée, Hatice Cengiz, who first raised the alarm of his disappearance.
Saudi Mag. Gen. Ahmed al-Assiri was relieved of his duties in the wake of the preliminary findings of the kingdom’s probe into Jamal Khashoggi’s death.
Photo:
fayez nureldine/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
In a royal order carried by state-run media, King Salman, the Saudi monarch, announced that two senior government officials—both close aides of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman—have been relieved of their posts. They are Maj. Gen. Ahmed al-Assiri, the deputy chief of Saudi Arabia’s intelligence, and Saud al-Qahtani, who was in charge of media affairs at the royal court.
King Salman also ordered the formation of a new committee responsible for overhauling the country’s intelligence agency to be led by Prince Mohammed. That was a clear indication that the crown prince won’t face immediate repercussions for Mr. Khashoggi’s death.
Gen. Assiri was directly involved in the operation targeting Mr. Khashoggi, according to people familiar with the matter. Three other senior intelligence officers were also dismissed from their posts.
It isn’t known what role, if any, Mr. Qahtani had in the incident. As media adviser, Mr. Qahtani had tightened controls on the domestic press and stepped up efforts to intimidate and silence government critics.
The announcement came hours after Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Saudi King Salman had a telephone call during which they exchanged information on their separate investigations of the Khashoggi case, according to Turkish state-owned news agency Anadolu. It was the second time the two men discussed the case on the phone, following an earlier conversation on Oct. 14.
The Saudi government initially denied any role in the journalist’s disappearance, saying Mr. Khashoggi left the consulate shortly after he entered it to collect documents related to his divorce. But it later launched its own, internal probe into the incident to determine who, if anyone, should be held accountable.
The mystery surrounding Mr. Khashoggi’s fate has brought intense scrutiny upon the Saudi monarchy, precipitating the most acute diplomatic crisis for the kingdom in years. Saudi Arabia most important ally, the U.S., has been forced to step in to address the situation, with President Trump vowing “severe punishment” should the U.S. conclude the Saudi government was implicated in the journalist’s suspected murder.
During a trip to Riyadh this week, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pressed the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed for answers, and agreed to give Riyadh a few more days to complete its probe into what happened to Mr. Khashoggi before deciding how to respond.
Since Mr. Khashoggi’s disappearance, Turkish authorities have disclosed evidence implicating Saudi officials. They say Mr. Khashoggi was drugged, killed and dismembered inside the Saudi consulate by a team of operatives dispatched from Riyadh and linked to the security establishment.
Write to Margherita Stancati at [email protected]
