Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s murder was “premeditated”, Saudi Arabia’s public prosecutor been quoted as saying by Saudi state media.
Nearly a week after Saudi Arabia’s public prosecutor admitted that journalist Jamal Khashoggi had indeed been murdered inside the kingdom’s Istanbul consulate in what he described as a “botched interrogation”, the kingdom has apparently changed its story once again.
Saudi Arabia had initially denied all knowledge of the writer’s whereabouts when he went missing on 2 October.
They have since admitted he was murdered at their consulate in Istanbul, blaming a “rogue operation”.
Saudi Arabia’s latest announcement follows news that CIA director Gina Haspel has heard audio recordings believed to capture the journalist’s murder.
Ms. Haspel was allowed to listen to the audio during a visit to Turkey earlier this week.
According to AFP, the Saudi public prosecutor is now saying that Khashoggi’s killing was a premeditated act presumably orchestrated by the 15 members of the Saudi hit squad that met and detained Khashoggi inside the consulate on Oct. 2.
Saudi Arabia initially denied any knowledge of Khashoggi’s fate, but last week said it had arrested 18 people and dismissed five officials after a preliminary investigation revealed he was killed in a fistfight at the consulate during a botched intelligence operation.
Turkey dismissed the Saudi assertion of an accidental death and has pressed the kingdom to concede Khashoggi was deliberately targeted for death.
“We have maintained since the beginning that the Khashoggi murder was premeditated,” a senior Turkish official told The Washington Post shortly after the Saudi announcement on Thursday. “We owe it to Jamal and his loved ones to uncover all of the truth. The criminal investigation continues in Turkey.”
#BREAKING: Saudi Arabia's public prosecutor says the murder of #JamalKhashoggi in Istanbul was "premeditated" based on information supplied by Turkey pic.twitter.com/xq2fs6bAuy
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) October 25, 2018
