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Saudi Arabia's explanation of why his agents had strangled dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul met a tide of international skepticism on Saturday as President Trump said he was killed after a smiling hand fight.
A Saudi official explained for the first time in the UK the involvement of a forensic doctor specializing in autopsies – a crucial detail that punctuated international doubts about the kingdom's history. The doctor was sent to help clean fingerprints or other evidence if necessary, not to dismember Mr. Khashoggi's body in order to get rid of him after a premeditated assassination, as Turkish officials have accused him of .
The Saudis seemed to have strongly wagered that they could persuade the world that Mr. Khashoggi, a sixty-year-old writer with glasses, was strangled only after being beaten with gunshots. fist with a team of Saudi agents at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
In their latest version of the events, they insisted that the agents had gone to Istanbul to carry out a mission without express authorization, or even to the knowledge of the Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, 33, sovereign of facto of the kingdom.
The credibility of the new account could determine the persistent will of the Western powers to collaborate closely with Prince Mohammed, who has taken power in the kingdom more closely than any other leader for at least half a century. The Trump administration has adopted it as a central pillar of its strategy for the Middle East – from mastering Iranian influence to concluding a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians.
The new explanation for Saudi Arabia's disappearance of Mr. Khashoggi did not appear until more than two weeks after the authorities claimed that Mr. Khashoggi had left the consulate.
The assassination of a Virginia resident, Mr. Khashoggi, and a Washington Post editorialist who left Saudi Arabia last year for voluntary exile, provoked an extraordinary international response against the kingdom and the Crown Prince. The storm of recrimination far exceeded public criticism that the Crown Prince had previously received for the abduction of the Lebanese prime minister or for leading a catastrophic war in Yemen.
But King Salman on Saturday only reinforced his support for the Crown Prince, his favorite son, thus shielding him from an overhaul of Saudi intelligence services in response to the scandal.
Trump said he is ready to accept the new Saudi account even as legislators from both US political parties have expressed serious doubts. They noted that the Saudi story was inconsistent with the US intelligence findings and that the Saudis – including the Crown Prince – had exhausted their credibility by claiming for weeks that Mr. Khashoggi had left the consulate.
On Saturday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that he would also reject the Saudi explanation.
"We will not allow things to remain covered," said Omer Celik, spokesman for the ruling Justice and Development Party, led by Erdogan, in a semi-official news agency report. official Anadolu. "We will use every opportunity we have to reveal what has happened, and that is the intention of our president."
Turkish officials said they have audio recordings and other evidence likely to discredit the new Saudi story by showing that the team was planning to assassinate and dismember Mr. Khashoggi from the beginning.
According to the Turks, a key element of this evidence is the presence of the doctor specialized in autopsies, Salah al-Tubaigy, who, according to them, acted quickly and unceremoniously to cut the body. He even suggested to the agents working with him to listen to music as he did while they were doing this macabre work, according to the story of Turkey.
A Turkish official familiar with the investigation said that Dr. Tubaigy had dismembered the body with a bone saw – a standard instrument used in autopsies – which he had brought for this purpose.
Turkish officials, however, described this evidence only under the guise of anonymity. The authorities have refused to share the recordings or other evidence with the public, or even with the US intelligence services, with whom they often work closely together.
This reluctance has raised questions about their ability to substantiate their statements and skeptics have hinted that Erdogan could seek to avoid a total diplomatic breakthrough by entering into a compromise with Saudi Arabia, both a major regional power allied and autonomous. rival Turkey sometimes.
The senior Saudi official, who requested anonymity because the kingdom's investigation was continuing, said the doctor "was added to the team as a forensic expert ".
"If the presence of the team was revealed and the operation was compromised," said the official, Dr. Tubaigy was to remove incriminating evidence such as fingerprints.
The official denied that the doctor brought a bone saw, as Turkish officials said. The Saudi official did not explain why the doctor was a specialist in autopsies rather than fingerprints or other evidence.
On Saturday, the director of the Turkish Arab Media Association – a close friend of Mr. Erdogan and a friend of Mr. Khashoggi – described the Saudi story as "far from reality".
The director, Turan Kislakci, called for a full account of the assassination and demanded the dismissal of the Saudi Crown Prince.
"It's not over. It's just beginning, "he said. "We want the murderers of Jamal to be punished," he added, including "the authority that gave the orders".
Kislakci also asked the Saudis to reveal the location of Mr. Khashoggi's body.
"Give us back Jamal," he says. "Give it back to us so we can get his funeral up."
In the midst of this skepticism, the Saudi government sought to give the impression of continuing as if nothing had happened.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs tweeted a big picture Prince Mohammed at the head of a high-level committee formed by the King to restructure the Saudi intelligence services following the murder of Mr. Khashoggi. The Kingdom's allies in the region, including Egypt and most of the Persian Gulf monarchs, have expressed strong support for Saudi Arabia's self-inquiry.
At the same time, Saudi officials tried to remove Prince Mohammed from any responsibility for the killing, even as they designated one of his closest advisers as the culprit, General Ahmed al-Assiri, deputy chief of intelligence services.
The Saudi official said on Saturday that the intelligence services of the kingdom had issued a general order to find exiled dissidents, such as Mr. Khashoggi, but did not specify ways to do so. The internal investigation by the Saudis, the official said, concluded that General Assiri had, on his own initiative, drawn up a plan to bring back Mr. Khashoggi.
But although the Crown Prince did not explicitly order an abduction or assassination, the official claimed that, "in the hierarchy, the vagueness and aggression increased", and the General Assiri and his team could have interpreted "the return to public order". kingdom "as instructions to kidnap Mr. Khashoggi.
It was not clear at first sight how mission planners had obtained the use of two private charter jets from a company close to the Crown Prince and the Ministry of the Interior. But the Saudi official acknowledged that 15 Saudis arrived in Istanbul on October 2 – the day Mr. Khashoggi disappeared inside the consulate – as the Turks said.
The official said that the leaks of the Turkish authorities had misidentified some of the 15 people because of the spelling of their names or other details, but he did not reveal how many people would have been badly identified.
General Mutreb's participation, however, may also undermine Saudi claims that Prince Mohammed was unaware of the plan. A New York Times investigation revealed that General Mutreb had traveled frequently with the Crown Prince in his entourage. At least three other Saudis designated as suspects by the Turks also seem to have ties to the Crown Prince.
The Saudi official said the 15 officers had been divided into three teams: one for logistical support and transport; one for counter-surveillance and operational security; and another for the execution of the operation. Another general besides General Mutreb was part of the team.
The official said the team initially sought to persuade Mr. Khashoggi to return home.
"He did not want to have the discussion, so he more or less tried to leave the room," said the official.
The agents tried to stop him. An altercation ensues. Mr. Khashoggi started shouting and one of the officers put him in a choking suit.
"It's like that he's dead," said the manager. "It did not last that long."
The official gave no explanation as to why Mr. Khashoggi would try to resist after being restrained. The official also said that the Saudi authorities did not yet know what the agents had done with the body.
"They say that they gave it to one of their local collaborators," he said, although he refused to reveal whether this "collaborator" was Saudi, Turkish, or of another nationality.
The Saudis announced 18 arrests as part of the investigation. The official said the arrests included the 15-member team, two consular staff and a driver. General Assiri was not among those arrested, which raises questions about the possible consequences.
The official said the team had sought to hide the killing of Mr. Khashoggi from the Crown Prince. The crown prince began asking questions after the details had been published in the Turkish media, the official said. But he did not explain why it took two weeks to get answers.
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