ISTANBUL, November 11 -- The head of investigations at the Turkish Daily Sabah newspaper has told Al Jazeera that Jamal Khashoggi's last words were "I'm suffocating ... Take this bag off my head, I'm claustrophobic", according to an audio recording from inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist, suffocated to death while a plastic bag covered his head. Karaman said the murder lasted for about seven minutes, according to the recordings. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogansaid on Saturday that audio related to Khashoggi's murder was shared with Saudi Arabia, the United States, Germany, France and Britain. He said Saudi Arabia knows Khashoggi's killer is among a group of 15 people who flew into Istanbul hours before the October 2 incident. According to Karaman, the Saudi entourage covered the floor with plastic bags before dismembering Khashoggi's body - a 15-minute process that was led by Salah al-Tubaigy, head of the Saudi Scientific Council of Forensics. Karaman's remarks come as Turkish police are ending the search for the body, but the criminal investigation into Khashoggi's murder will continue, sources told Al Jazeera on Saturday. Traces of acid were found at the Saudi consul general's residence in Istanbul, where the body was believed to be disposed of with the use of chemicals. Karaman said that Daily Sabah would soon publish images of the tools that were brought into the country and used by the Saudi group. He added the Turkish newspaper would also publish some of the recordings that document the last moments of Khashoggi's life. Last month, Istanbul's chief prosecutor said that Khashoggi was strangled as soon as he entered the consulate and that his body was dismembered, in the first official comments on the case. Saudi Arabia has said it arrested 18 people and dismissed five senior government officials as part of an investigation into Khashoggi's killing. Ankara, meanwhile, seeks extradition of the suspects.
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RIYADH, November 10 -- The Saudi-UAE-led coalition said it has "requested a cessation of inflight refuelling support" by the United States, bringing a key element of Washington's involvement in the Yemen conflict to a halt.
In statements carried out by the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) on Saturday, Saudi Arabia said the decision to end aerial support for the coalition was made in consultation with the United States. "Recently, the kingdom and the coalition has increased its capacity to independently conduct inflight refueling in Yemen," the SPA said. "As a result, in consultation with the United States, the coalition has requested cessation of inflight refuelling support for its operations in Yemen." Yemen at risk of 'big famine': UN humanitarian chiefUS Defence Secretary Jim Mattis expressed his country's support for the Saudi decision and suggested a continuing role for the US in Yemen with regard to helping coalition forces minimise civilian casualties and expanding humanitarian efforts. "The US and the coalition are planning to collaborate on building up legitimate Yemeni forces to defend the Yemeni people, secure the country's borders, and contribute to counter al-Qaeda and ISIS (also known as ISIL) efforts in Yemen and the region," Mattis said. In August, Mattis warned that US support for the coalition was "not unconditional," urging it to do "everything humanly possible to avoid any innocent loss of life." The implication of the decision is not clear as of yet but the Associated Press news agency reported that US officials said earlier that Saudi forces now handled about 80 percent of refuelling operations, a critical function that allows aircraft to fly longer sorties. ISTANBUL, November 8 -- A source in the Turkish attorney general’s office told Al Jazeera that the investigative team found traces of hydrofluoric acid and other chemicals inside a well at the Saudi consul general's home in Istanbul.
The source said the killers dissolved the journalist's dismembered body in acid in one of the rooms at Consul General Mohammed al-Otaibi’s residence. Reports from Istanbul, said the residence was searched by Turkish investigators two weeks after the killing. "It would appear, according to the source that during that two week period, acid was used to dispose of the dismembered body of Jamal Khashoggi." Moreover, Israeli spyware technology may have been used to track down to kill Khashoggi. Software made by Israeli-based cyber security firm NSO Group Technologies may have been used to track down Khashoggi, fugitive US whistleblower Edward Snowden told an Israeli audience via video conference. Snowden said the phone of one of Khashoggi's friends, Omar Abdulaziz - who lives in exile in Canada - had been infected with NSO's Pegasus spyware. The whistleblower, who now lives in Russia, said the software allowed Saudis to collect information about Khashoggi through Abdulaziz. "The Saudis, of course, knew that Khashoggi was going to go to the consulate, as he got an appointment. But how did they know his intention and plans?" "The NSO Group is the worst of the worst in selling these burglary tools, that are being actively used to violate the human rights of dissidents, opposition figures, activists, to some pretty bad players," Snowden said, "but they are not alone." |
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