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Join on Telegram Rabat – Saudi authorities have just admitted that prominent Saudi Journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2.
The Saudi news channel Al Akhbariya made the announcement. Saudi authorities are claiming that Khashoggi was killed in a fight that erupted after he entered the consulate.
According to the same source, Khashoggi died from a choke hold during a physical altercation.
The announcement contradicts a previous official statement by Saudi authorities. Originally, Saudi Arabia denied any involvement in the Saudi journalist’s death and stressed that he left the consulate shortly after he arrived.
It also contradicts statements by Turkish officials to the New York Times in which they asserted that a hit squad that flew in from Saudi Arabia to eliminate the journalist tortured, killed, and dismembered Khashoggi.
Saudi authorities announced the arrest of 18 individuals after an investigation established their link to Khashoggi’s murder.
Saud Al Qahtani, an adviser to Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman, was dismissed from his post. Al Qahtani is notorious for having spearheaded a ferocious media campaign against Qatar since the start of the Saudi-led blockade against its neighbor in June 2017.
In late 2016, Qahtani told Khashoggi that he was banned from writing or posting tweets after he made “unfriendly” comments about Trump.
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— ???? ???????? (@saudq1978) August 17, 2017
In August 2017, Al Qahtani took advantage of his large base of followers and launched a blacklist. He called on all Saudis to report any account showing sympathy towards Qatar or questioning the Saudi decision to impose a blockade on its neighbor.
US Senator Lindsay Graham has questioned the narrative of Saudi Arabia. The senator, known for being a close ally to President Donald Trump, said in his Twitter account that he is more than “skeptical about the new Saudi narrative.”
To say that I am skeptical of the new Saudi narrative about Mr. Khashoggi is an understatement. https://t.co/am4fraUL6H
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) October 19, 2018
Representative Adam Schiff, a ranking member of the US House Intelligence Committee, expressed the same skepticism and called on Congress to hold Saudi Arabia accountable if the Trump administration fails to do so.
The claim that Khashoggi was killed while brawling with 15 men dispatched from Saudi Arabia is not at all credible. If he was fighting with those sent to capture or kill him, it was for his life.
The Kingdom must be held to account. If Administration doesn’t lead, Congress must.
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) October 19, 2018
