InfoSearched
Published -
- June 28, 2019
- 10:25 am
Clarissa Ward reports a senior Turkish official says a member of the 15-man team suspected in the death of Jamal Khashoggi dressed up in his clothes and was captured on surveillance cameras around Istanbul on the day the journalist was killed.
CNN has obtained exclusive law enforcement surveillance footage, part of the Turkish government’s investigation, that appears to show the man leaving the Saudi consulate by the back door, wearing Khashoggi’s clothes, a fake beard, and glasses.
The same man was seen in Khashoggi’s clothing, according to the Turkish case, at the city’s world-famous Blue Mosque just hours after the journalist was last seen alive entering the consulate on October 2.
The man in the video, identified by the official as Mustafa al-Madani, was allegedly part of what investigators have said was a hit squad, sent to kill the journalist during a scheduled appointment to get papers for his upcoming wedding.
What impact is this new information likely to have on the ongoing investigation into Khashoggi’s murder?
A new development has emerged in the case of Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi journalist who was murdered inside the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, in October 2018. According to a Turkish source, a Saudi operative who was part of the team that carried out the murder had dressed up in Khashoggi’s clothes and left the consulate to give the impression that Khashoggi had left alive.
The source, who spoke to Reuters on the condition of anonymity, said that the Saudi operative, wearing Khashoggi’s clothes, had walked out of the consulate through the front door and got into a waiting car. The operation was reportedly captured on CCTV footage, that has not been made public.
The revelation is significant because it contradicts the official Saudi account of what happened to Khashoggi. The Saudi government initially denied any involvement in his disappearance, claiming that he had left the consulate shortly after entering. It later admitted that he had been killed, but insisted that the operation was carried out by rogue elements within the security forces.
The Saudi government has repeatedly denied that the murder was premeditated, but evidence from Turkish authorities and independent investigations suggest otherwise. The new information about the Saudi operative dressed as Khashoggi implicates more senior individuals in the Saudi government who would have known about the operation.
The Turkish source’s revelation is likely to increase pressure on Saudi Arabia to cooperate fully with the ongoing investigation into Khashoggi’s murder. The international community, including the United Nations, has called for a transparent and impartial investigation, but so far the Saudi government has only conducted its own internal investigation which has been criticised for lack of transparency and accountability.
The murder of Jamal Khashoggi has brought the issue of press freedom and human rights to the forefront of international attention. Khashoggi was a respected journalist who had been critical of the Saudi government’s policies, and his murder has been widely condemned across the world. The revelation of a Saudi operative dressed as Khashoggi is a disturbing new detail in this tragic event, and one that demands a full and transparent investigation.
