Jamal Khashoggi Disappearance: Turkey Claims Audio, Video Evidence Show Murder

Officials from the United States and Turkey told the Washington Post that the Turkish government has audio and video recordings that prove journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed inside the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul earlier this month.

Officials said Thursday the recording showed a Saudi security team detaining Khashoggi inside the consulate after he walked in to obtain an official document before his upcoming wedding. They added the team then killed him and dismembered his body.

The most persuasive and gruesome evidence that the Saudi team is responsible for Khashoggi’s death was provided by the audio recordings, officials said.

“The voice recording from inside the embassy lays out what happened to Jamal after he entered,” a person with knowledge of the recordings told the Washington Post, where Khashoggi was a columnist, condition of anonymity.

“You can hear his voice and the voices of men speaking Arabic,” the person said. “You can hear how he was interrogated, tortured and then murdered.”

Another person, again speaking on terms of anonymity, said men could be heard beating Khashoggi in the recordings.

It remains unclear whether U.S. officials saw the footage or listened to the audio, but the contents of the recordings were described to them by Turkish officials, the Washington Post report said.

Khashoggi has been critical of the Saudi government and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for a while though the journalist had long-standing ties to the royal family. He has also at times praised the efforts made by the crown prince.

Reports on Wednesday said U.S. intelligence intercepts showed the crown prince sought to lure Khashoggi back to Saudi and detain him. It also said the U.S. did not warn the journalist of the danger even though it was aware of it.

When Khashoggi was first reported missing, the Turkish government claimed he was killed inside the Saudi consulate in Turkey. They released security footages that showed Khashoggi entering the consulate on Oct. 2, but said there were no recordings of him coming out.

Saudi officials denied any involvement in the journalist’s disappearance and said he left the consulate shortly after entering.

The existence of the alleged audio and video recordings can substantiate Turkey’s claim. According to officials, Turkish officials were wary of releasing the recordings as they feared on revealing how they spy on foreign entities in the country.

Turkey said Thursday it agreed to a request from Saudi to form a joint committee to look into the incident.

President Donald Trump called Khashoggi’s suspected killing “a terrible thing,” during a bill signing Thursday in the Oval Office.

“We’re looking at it very strongly,” Trump said. “We’ll be having a report out soon. We’re working with Turkey, we’re working with Saudi Arabia. What happened is a terrible thing, assuming that happened. I mean, maybe we’ll be pleasantly surprised, but somehow I tend to doubt it.”

Earlier, Trump was reluctant to call off an arms deal with Saudi over lack of information regarding the disappearance of the journalist. The president has been facing increasing pressure to respond to the incident. On Wednesday, a bipartisan group of U.S. senators submitted a letter demanding the administration to investigate the disappearance.

The incident has also called forth major backlash from around the world against the Saudi government.

A report in Reuters on Friday said media companies and top executives were pulling out of the Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh, a Saudi investment conference, due to the growing outrage over the disappearance of the journalist.

Economist Editor-In-Chief Zanny Minton Beddoes, Uber Technologies Inc [UBER.UL] Chief Executive Officer Dara Khosrowshahi, Viacom Inc CEO Bob Bakish, and a CNBC anchor and New York Times business journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin said they would not be attending the event. Sorkin said he was “terribly distressed by the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and reports of his murder.”

The New York Times Co. pulled out as media sponsor, while The Financial Times said it was reviewing its involvement as a financial partner for the event.

Sir Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin group said in a statement that he suspended talks with the Saudi government over investment in his space tourism venture Virgin Galactic. He also put on hold directorship of two massive tourism projects planned by Saudi Arabia along the Red Sea.

“I had high hopes for the current government in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its leader Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and it is why I was delighted to accept two directorships in the tourism projects around the Red Sea,” he said. “What has reportedly happened in Turkey around the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, if proved true, would clearly change the ability of any of us in the West to do business with the Saudi Government.”