On the morning of October 2nd, the famous Saudi journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, together with his fiancee, a Turkish woman named Hatice Сengiz, came to Consulate General of Saudi Arabia in Istanbul.
Since then, nobody has seen him -numerous versions of his disappearance began to emerge, including suspicions of murder.
To date, Saudi officials have strongly denied any involvement in his disappearance, and say that he left the consulate soon after arriving. However, they have not presented any evidence to this effect. UWI has collected the most frightening and extraordinary versions of what might have taken place.
Drugged, beaten and murdered
Al Jazeera produced some details about the possible murder of the Saudi journalist (with reference to the Turkish sources):
– Before his death, he was beaten and drugged
– According to Prosecutor General’s Office of Turkey, Khashoggi was killed in the consulate building, and there is hard evidence to prove it.
Torture
CNN (and other American media sources) have suggested that Saudi Arabia will recognize that Khashoggi died during interrogation, and that originally they had planned to kidnap him, but he was accidently was killed as a result of rough interrogation tactics.
Seven minutes to die
As other media-sources are reporting (again, referring to Turkish sources), it took seven minutes for Jamal Khashoggi to die.
They say that one of the Turkish representatives has an audio recording of Khashoggi`s last moments. According to this version, Khashoggi was dragged from the consul-general’s office at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and onto the table of his study next door. Then there were screams, “they had come to kill him.”
This same source claims that Tubaigy began to cut Khashoggi’s body up after his death. During the operation, Tubaigy used earphones and listened to music, sources say.
As the NYT adds, the agents seized Khashoggi almost immediately and began torture him, including cutting off his fingers.
Rogue killers
The most extraordinary (but nonetheless, a widely touted version) is Donald Trump`s statement about the attack being conducted by “rogue killers.”
In any case, Trump has found himself in a very difficult situation: on the one hand, extremely expensive and high level contracts with Saudi Arabia, and on the other – attacks by the opposition for Trump’s cordiality with the regime. This is why Trump must stick to the “rogue killers” narrative.
Saudi dark horses
According to the New York Times, one of those responsible for Khashoggi`s disappearance was a companion of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The other 3 men are linked by witnesses and other records to the Saudi crown prince’s security detail.
Another person in question is Salah Muhammad al-Tubaigy, a well known medical specialist of the Saudi Interior Ministry.
The NYT noted that these persons were seen at the Saudi Consulate at the time of the alleged incident.
As they note, 9 of the 15 suspects worked for the Saudi security services, military or other government ministries.
This version is obviously in direct contradiction to that the version that says the attack was carried out by “rogue-killers”. The media is, for the most part, suggesting that the Saudis killed Khashoggi for political reasons.
The high-level positions of the suspects in the Saudi government, and their relationship with the crown prince, could make it difficult to place any responsibility for the crime.
The presence of a doctor who specializes in crime-scene forensics seems to suggest that the murder was no accident.