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Erin Cunningham
A reporter from the Middle East covering Iran, Turkey, Syria and the wider region
Tamer El-Ghobashy
Head of Baghdad office focusing on Iraqi politics, security and the fight against the Islamic State
Three days before the arrival of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the United States earlier this year, another Saudi traveler identified online as a member of the Saudi Royal Guard has also arrived in Washington, according to passport records. His stay overlapped that of the prince.
Twice before, this traveler had made other trips to the United States coinciding with the visit of prominent members of the Saudi royal family, including King Salman and one of his sons.
The same traveler, Khalid Aedh Alotaibi, is now on a list provided by Turkish officials of 15 Saudis. Turkey claims to have participated in the disappearance and murder of prominent journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate on 2 October. Tuesday provided passport scanners to seven members of what they called a successful squad, and this information helped to confirm Alotaibi's trip to Washington.
Alotaibi is one of the 11 Saudis on the list who have ties to Saudi security services, according to their social media posts, e-mails, local media reports, and other documents reviewed. by the Washington Post.
Two weeks after the death of Khashoggi, contributor to the Global Opinions section of the Washington Post and criticism of the Saudi government, the 15 men identified by Turkey as members of the Saudi team involved in his death are undergoing an in-depth review. . Turkey has published the list to demonstrate the involvement of Saudi Arabia in the murder.
According to the Turkish report and flight information, the 15 men arrived in Istanbul on 2 October – mostly early in the morning – and then left within hours of Khashoggi's disappearance.
Turkish police are standing in front of the residence of the Saudi consul general on Tuesday pending the arrival of the investigators in a context of growing international reaction to the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. (Chris Mcgrath / Getty Images)
Saudi officials repeatedly denied involvement in Khashoggi's disappearance and claimed they had no information about where he was. They say that he left the consulate shortly after his arrival to get a document he needed for an upcoming wedding.
Saudi Arabia made no official statements about these men or why they traveled to Istanbul on 2 October. A report on the Saudi-owned al-Arabiya news channel said the 15 were "tourists" who had been falsely accused.
US officials are now waiting for the Saudi government to accept responsibility for Khashoggi's death in an explanation that protects the powerful crown prince from the blame, a diplomat said. The diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive issue.
President Trump suggesting that Khashoggi would have been killed by "dishonest killers", attention has focused more and more on the identity of the men on the list and on their links with the government Saudi, the security services and the Crown Prince.
Alotaibi and eight other people suspected of being suspected by Turkish officials seem to have profiles on MenoM3ay – a widely used phonebook application in the Arab world – who identify themselves as members of the Saudi security forces, some claiming to belong to the royal guard.
Two weeks after the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi, contributor to the Global Opinions section of the Washington Post and critic of the Saudi government, the 15 men identified by Turkey as members of the Saudi team involved in his death are undergoing a review. thorough. (Hasan Jamali / AP)
In one case, Alotaibi is identified with a symbol for the royal guard. In another case, someone else saved him in their contacts with the same symbol for the security forces, charged with protecting the royal family.
Repeated attempts to contact Alotaibi using the phone number indicated in the application have been unsuccessful.
Five of the other eight are repeatedly identified in the application as officers of the Royal Guard or Royal Palace employees.
Two of the Saudis on the list, Naif Hassan S. Alarifi and Saif Saad Q. Alqahtani, are repeatedly identified in the application as being even closer to the royal family – especially as employees. of the Crown Prince's Office.
The post could not independently confirm that one or the other man was working for the Crown Prince. Phone calls made to app numbers for several days were not answered or showed that the phones were off. The Saudi Embassy in Washington has not responded to repeated requests for comments on the 15 men since last week.
Four men with the same names, however, identify themselves on Facebook and other social media publications or have been quoted in Saudi press articles as members of the country's security forces.
Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb is another of the suspects who seems to identify on the application as a member of the Saudi security forces. According to a list of British diplomats, Mutreb appeared ten years ago on the list of the first secretaries of the Saudi Embassy in London.
Mutreb's name also appears in hacked emails published three years ago by WikiLeaks. In an email sent to officials of an Italian security firm in 2011, a Saudi official identified Mutreb among embassy staff who would receive advanced training in security.
The New York Times reported Tuesday night that Mutreb was frequently accompanied and photographed near Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on official trips in Madrid, Paris, Houston, Boston and the United Nations.
In this article, the Times reported finding evidence that at least nine of the 15 Saudis on the list provided by Turkey were working for the military, security services or others. branches of the Saudi government.
Another man identified by the Turkish authorities is Muhammed Saad Alzahrani, also identified on the application as a member of the Royal Guard. A video showing a man wearing a black security uniform with the same name was posted on YouTube last year to protect the Crown Prince while he was greeting visitors.
The guard in the video looks a lot like Zahrani's picture in a passport picture provided to La Poste on Tuesday.
Arrived Tuesday on the phone on a number appearing on MenoM3ay, Zahrani denied being in Turkey and refused to say he was working for the Crown Prince, claiming that what he does in life "is a personal information ". A copy of what was supposed to be his passport to the Turkish authorities, which includes patriarchal names, Zahrani asked if a reporter knew his mother's name. The reporter replied no, and Zahrani hung up.
Salah Muhammed al-Tubaigy, a forensic expert known for his quick and mobile autopsies, is one of the most prominent names in the Saudi team. He went to Istanbul shortly after Khashoggi's entry to the Saudi Arabian consulate and flew nine hours later, Turkish officials said.
Tubaigy, 47, is one of the best professors in the Department of Criminal Evidence at the Naif Arab University for Security Sciences. He chairs masters courses on bone identification through DNA analysis and how the use of formaldehyde limits the analysis of genetic tissues.
But Tubaigy is also close to Saudi security operations, teaching and providing expert advice on evidence gathering and investigations. In 2014, he persuaded the Saudi authorities to let him participate in the design and purchase of an autopsy laboratory the size of a semi trailer, of worth $ 2.5 million, to accompany Muslims in the hajj of Mecca.
Tubaigy did not respond to e-mails or telephone messages left by three numbers associated with the profile that he had set up on an Arabic subscription phone application.
Cunningham reported from Istanbul. Julie Tate and John Hudson in Washington and Souad Mekhennet and Kareem Fahim in Istanbul contributed to this article.
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