Is this last photo of Saudi critic in murder mystery?
Last picture of outspoken journalist at the centre of Istanbul embassy murder riddle
‘I want to write and speak my mind’
STRIDING towards the shabby-looking entrance to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, this is journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
According to police, the high-profile Saudi dissident and regime critic never emerged again – and it is feared he was tortured and murdered inside.
The footage of his last movements came as the inquiry into his disappearance threatened to escalate into a major diplomatic incident.
The UK’s foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt said he had met with the Saudi ambassador to London to ‘seek urgent answers’ about the case. Bizarrely, the Saudis are claiming they had no working CCTV at the consulate on the day Mr Khashoggi vanished.
Mr Hunt tweeted: ‘Violence against journalists worldwide is going up and is a grave threat to freedom of expression.
‘If media reports prove correct, we will treat the incident seriously – friendships depend on shared values.’
In an off-air interview with the BBC three days before he went missing, Mr Khashoggi denied being in opposition to the Saudi regime. He said: ‘People who get arrested are not even dissidents.
‘They just have an independent mind. Until now I don’t call myself an opposition. I always say I am a writer, I want a free environment to write and speak my mind.
‘I wish I had that platform [to speak freely] in my home.’
Asked when he thought he could go back home, he said: ‘I don’t think I will be able to go.’
He said a friend was arrested just for talking critically, possibly at a dinner party.
Turkish authorities are now set to search the Saudi consulate for clues to Mr Khashoggi’s disappearance. The image from a CCTV camera filming the entrance shows the journalist entering the building at 1.15pm last Tuesday.
His fiancée Hatice Cengiz, 36, said she never saw him come back out again. This was despite her waiting outside until after the consulate had closed for the day.
Senior Turkish police sources say they believe he was ‘tortured, killed and cut into pieces’.
Turkish authorities are now searching for a black van seen on CCTV being ‘loaded with boxes’, which they believe was used to transport Mr Khashoggi’s remains from the consulate.
Officials said the van was part of a convoy of six cars, some with diplomatic plates, which left the consulate grounds two hours after Mr Khashoggi went inside, according to the Guardian.
Saudi officials have said he left the building unharmed. They claimed that no video cameras at the six-storey building were working on the day he went missing.
Footage obtained by police only shows him going in and not coming out, it is understood.
The Foreign Ministry said Saudi authorities have notified Ankara that they are ‘open to co-operation’ and will allow the consulate building to be searched.
Mr Khashoggi disappeared after entering the consulate to obtain paperwork for his marriage to his Turkish fiancée. Saudi Arabia has called the allegations it killed the 59-year-old ‘baseless’ but has offered no evidence to show he left the building.
Speaking to the Washington Post, Ms Cengiz said she was fearing for her own safety in the wake of his disappearance. She said: ‘I no longer feel like I am really alive. I can’t sleep. I don’t eat.’
She revealed she had waited for hours outside the consulate and that security staff told her ‘there is noone inside’ when she inquired about her partner’s whereabouts.
Police said earlier that around 15 Saudis, including officials, arrived in Istanbul on two flights last Tuesday and were at the consulate at the same time as Mr Khashoggi. They said the ‘death squad’ later flew back to Saudi Arabia.
The brother of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman said he had ‘regular contact’ with Mr Khashoggi before his disappearance.
He said he was a ‘friend’ as he dismissed allegations Saudi Arabia killed or detained him as ‘absolutely false, and baseless’.
Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan asked Riyadh on Monday to prove its claim Mr Khashoggi left the consulate.
The former government adviser has lived in self-imposed exile in the United States since last year to avoid possible arrest.
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