Saudi diplomat calls for Khashoggi massacre as "hysterical"

Dubai, United Arab Emirates – Saudi's top diplomat said Saturday that the worldwide outcry and media attention on the murder of a Saudi journalist earlier this month have become "hysterical". He urged the public to wait for the results of an investigation before blaming the kingdom's highest leaders.

Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was killed by Saudi agents at the Kingdom's consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2.

"This question has become quite hysterical," said Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir. "I think people are blaming Saudi Arabia with such certainty before the end of the investigation."

Some of the people involved in the Khashoggi murder are close to Prince Mohammed, who is the apparent heir of the kingdom. His condemnation of the murder as "odious" and "painful" has so far not dispelled the suspicions that an operation of this magnitude could have been conducted without his knowledge.

Al-Jubeir spoke of the growing skepticism surrounding the alleged involvement of the Crown Prince. At an annual conference of international officials, including US Secretary of Defense James Mattis in Bahrain, he spoke.

"We have made it clear that we will have a full and transparent investigation, the results of which will be published, and we have made it clear that those responsible will be held accountable," he said. mechanisms in place to ensure that this does not happen.

"We are trying to find out what happened, we know that an error has been made, we know that people have exceeded their authority and we know we are investigating them," he said. declared.

But he warned that "investigations take time".

"Unfortunately, there was this hysteria in the media regarding Saudi's guilt before the end of the investigation," he said.

Turkey alleges a 15 member success team was sent to Istanbul to kill the journalist, a former Saudi insider turned critical critic of Prince Mohammed in the columns of the Washington Post. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the other three members of the 18-member group in Saudi Arabia were employees of the consulate.

Saudi Arabia said five officials, two of whom were working directly under the Crown Prince, have been dismissed. Al-Jubeir said Saturday that six people in total had been fired. King Salman instructed his son, the Crown Prince, to oversee the restructuring of the kingdom's intelligence services as a result of the killing.

Erdogan said on Friday that Turkey would unveil more evidence of the murder but did not rush into it, saying the Turkish authorities would methodically increase pressure on Saudi Arabia as the kingdom issues statements. contradictory in a vain and often clumsy attempt to end the conflict. crisis.

After three weeks of Saudi reports around the incident, the kingdom acknowledged this week that the killing was "premeditated", citing evidence from Turkish officials investigating what had happened. Saudi Arabia initially said that Khashoggi was released from the consulate on October 2, before presenting various other stories that President Donald Trump called "one of the worst cover-ups in the history of cover-ups. "

Turkey is asking Saudi Arabia to hand over the suspects in the murder, which the kingdom has described as dishonest operation by officials who have overstepped their orders or authority.

CIA director Gina Haspel was in Turkey earlier this week to examine evidence. She informed Trump in Washington on Thursday. Officials confirmed to CBS News that Haspel had heard audio footage showing the murder while she was in Turkey this week, but it remains unclear whether she considers the evidence presented to her to be convincing.

Meanwhile, Khashoggi's son, Salah, left Saudi Arabia after the kingdom revoked a travel ban allowing him to travel to the United States. State Department spokesman Robert Palladino said Washington welcomed the decision to have Salah Khashoggi and his family leave Saudi Arabia.