The US press publishes more details about the killing of Jamal Khashoggi

The CIA has concluded that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Turkish city of Istanbul last month, the Washington Post reported.

According to the newspaper quoted on Friday evening by people who said they were “aware of the case”.

The source explained that the CIA report “contradicts the claims of the Saudi government that bin Salman is not involved in the killing of Khashoggi”.

“The assessment of the CIA is the most accurate so far, and complicates the efforts of US President Donald Trump’s administration to maintain its relationship with a close ally”.

According to sources quoted by the “Washington Post”, the CIA has obtained several sources, including a call by Prince Khalid bin Salman, brother of the Crown Prince and the Saudi ambassador to the United States, with Khashoggi, reassuring him about the possibility of obtaining documents from his consulate in Istanbul.

But the newspaper said it was not clear when Prince Khalid knew Khashoggi would be killed.

Fatima Ba’ashen, a spokesman for the Saudi embassy in Washington, denied that the prince and Khashoggi spoke of anything about going to Turkey, describing the CIA’s assessments as “alleged”.

According to the Washington Post, American intelligence conclusions, according to a US official familiar with it, see that the Crown Prince does not pass anything without his knowledge or participation as the de facto ruler of the country, and confirmed by European officials that the incident would not occur without the guidance of Bin Salman, Their murder team continues directly with the Crown Prince.

However, the same sources do not associate his responsibility in Khashoggi’s case with his ruling, as his future succession as a successor to the throne is certain.

The CIA does not know the details of the body of Jashoggi, the Washington Post quoted unidentified insiders.

The CIA also heard reports of the killing, which it received from its Turkish counterpart, and showed the audience about how to get rid of Khashoggi’s body and erase any evidence, and to inform the former adviser to the Royal Court, Saud Al Qahtani, that the process was complete.

The CIA also revealed, following its contacts, that the kingdom was seeking Khashoggi’s return to Riyadh.

The CIA attributed the reason why the crown prince directed the killing of Khashoggi, although he was not urging his overthrow, to bin Salman’s belief that Khashoggi was a “dangerous Islamic” sympathetic to the Muslim Brotherhood, the Washington Post quoted people familiar with the assessment.

Trump was secretly informed of the evidence of Mohammed bin Salman’s involvement, but the president still had doubts about the Saudi Crown Prince’s orders to commit the crime.

The report pointed to a close relationship between Trump’s son, Jared Kushner, and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia.

Informed sources said Trump had asked CIA and State Department officials about Khashoggi’s body, but was disappointed that he had not received an answer.

The report said that the Turkish officials handed over the CIA director Gina Haspel, a copy of the sound recording in their possession, and that the latter saw the recording showing Khashoggi’s death shortly after entering the Saudi consulate.

He pointed out that people familiar with the sound recording said that Khashoggi was killed in the office of the Saudi Consul Mohammed Al Otaibi, and the latter stressed the need to get rid of the body quickly and clean the consulate of evidence.

He pointed out that the CIA has benefited from the data available in other countries with regard to the role of Mohammed bin Salman in the crime.

“Trump told senior White House officials that Bin Salman should remain in office because Saudi Arabia is helping control Iran and he does not want to discuss Khashoggi’s death, which would hamper Saudi oil production”, the report said.

In a related context, a US official told the “Associated Press” US intelligence officials concluded that the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia ordered the killing of Khashoggi.

In the first Saudi comment, according to the Washington Post, the brother of the Saudi Crown Prince, Khalid bin Salman, expressed his wish to reveal Washington what it has in the Khashoggi case.

In a tweet through his Twitter account, Khaled bin Salman said: “I last communicated with Khashoggi by text message on October 26, 2017.

I did not talk to him by phone, and certainly I did not suggest going to Turkey for any reason” he said.

He denied the authenticity of the “Washington Post”, adding: “I hope Washington to disclose what it has if these allegations are true”.

On Thursday, the Saudi Public Prosecution announced that Khashoggi was ordered to kill Khashoggi inside his country’s consulate in Istanbul, “the head of his negotiating team” without naming him, and that the body of the victim (Khashoggi) was taken apart by the killers without naming them outside the Consulate building.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mouloud Chaochoglu said that some of the statements made by the Saudi Public Prosecution on the circumstances of Khashoggi’s murder were “unsatisfactory”.

“Those who ordered the killing of Khashoggi and the real instigators should not be revealed”, he said.

Also Thursday, the United States announced the imposition of sanctions on 17 Saudis over the Khashoggi murder.

The list included former Saudi Crown Prince Saud Al Qahtani, Saudi consul general in Istanbul Mohammad Al Otaibi and Maher Muttrab, a senior Saudi official charged with coordinating the killing.

The sanctions were imposed under the so-called “Magnitsky Act”, which authorizes the US administration to impose sanctions on those accused of human rights violations, including freezing their assets and banning them from entering the United States.

Worth mentioning that the New York times posted, that Washington may seek to replace Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman with another “less reckless and dangerous” prince, according to the findings of investigations into the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi,

The New York Times also posted a video report telling the story of Jamal Khashoggi murder with first time footage.

To watch New York Times video click here.