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Tuesday 23 October 2018

Khashoggi's 'Body Double' Is Pictured Leaving Saudi Consulate Wearing Fake Beard, Murdered Journalist's Clothes And Glasses Hours After Saudi Intelligence Officers Butchered Him

CCTV images have emerged showing a Saudi intelligence officer dressed in a fake beard and Jamal Khashoggi's clothes and glasses (left) on the day the journalist disappeared
CCTV images have emerged showing a Saudi intelligence officer dressed in a fake beard and Jamal Khashoggi's clothes and glasses on the day the journalist disappeared.
The man was captured on surveillance cameras leaving the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and walking around the city on October 2.
He is said to have been part of the 15-man Saudi team wanted for questioning over the death of journalist Khashoggi. The footage is believed to have been taken just hours after the writer was last seen alive entering the embassy.

The footage is said to have been taken just hours after the writer was last seen alive entering the embassy (pictured)
The footage is said to have been taken just hours after the writer was last seen alive entering the embassy (pictured)
The official in the clip has been named as Mustafa al-Madani, according to CNN, which said it had spoken to a senior Turkish official. The same man was seen in the writer's clothing at the city's Blue Mosque just hours after Khashoggi's disappearance, Turkish investigators say.
Reports in Turkey have claimed the Saudi team accosted Khashoggi in the building, cut off his fingers, killed and dismembered the 59-year-old writer.
It comes as Turkish media reported that a member of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's entourage made four calls to the royal's office from the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul the day Jamal Khashoggi was killed there.
The footage also shows Madani wearing his own blue and white checked shirt and dark  trousers
The footage also shows Madani wearing his own blue and white checked shirt and dark  trousers
Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb made the calls to Bader al-Asaker, the head of the Crown Prince's office with another going to the United States, according to Yeni Safak. 
In a separate report, the same website claimed Prince Mohammed himself spoke to Khashoggi by phone to ask him to return to Riyadh shortly before the writer was murdered. 
The website claims that Khashoggi refused, fearing he would be arrested and killed in Saudi Arabia. After this, it is claimed, the writer was murdered in the consulate.
As a probe into the death continued today,
  • A leading Turkish politician said Khashoggi's murder was planned in a 'savage manner'
  • A car belonging to the Saudi consulate was found in Istanbul's Sultangazi district and will be searched for traces of the writer
  • Britain's former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said it was clear Khashoggi's death 'was authorised at the highest level'
  • An adviser to Turkish President Erdogan dismissed claims Khashoggi died in a 'fist fight'
  • Britain called for urgent clarification of the circumstances surrounding the journalist's death
  • Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and King Salman called Khashoggi's son, Salah, to express their condolences
  • The kingdom's foreign minister admitted the writer was murdered but that the killing was a 'tremendous mistake' by a 'rogue operation'
  • White House adviser Jared Kushner said the US is still in a 'fact-finding' phase
  • Top business executives and global officials continued to drop out of a Saudi investment conference dubbed 'Davos in the Desert'
  • The website for the summit was hacked to show the Crown Prince appearing to behead Khashoggi
Today, CNN aired surveillance footage showing a man in Khashoggi's dress shirt, suit jacket and trousers. He was also seen wearing a fake beard suggesting the operation was likely pre-planned. Earlier at the city's airport and while entering the embassy, Madani was seen with just a moustache. 
CNN cited a Turkish official as describing the man as a 'body double' and a member of the Saudi team sent to Istanbul to target the writer. The official said that 'Khashoggi's clothes were probably still warm when Madani put them on.'
Madani was seen at the city's airport earlier that day with just a moustache (pictured)
The man in the footage is seen walking out of the consulate via its back exit with an accomplice, then taking a taxi to Istanbul's famed Sultan Ahmed Mosque, where he went into a public bathroom, changed back out of the clothes and left.
The state-run broadcaster TRT later also reported that a man who entered the consulate building was seen leaving the building in Khashoggi's clothes.
In the days after Khashoggi vanished, Saudi officials initially said that he had left the consulate, implying premeditation on the part of the Saudi team.
'After Turkish authorities and the media were allowed to inspect the consulate building in its entirety, the accusations changed to the outrageous claim that he was murdered, in the consulate, during business hours, and with dozens of staff and visitors in the building,' Saudi Ambassador to the U.S. Prince Khalid bin Salman, a brother of the crown prince, wrote on October 8. 'I don't know who is behind these claims, or their intentions, nor do I care frankly.'
A senior Saudi official has already said that one of the 15-strong team dressed up in Khashoggi's clothes to make it appear as if he had left the consulate.
The official said operative Madani also wore Khashoggi's glasses and Apple watch and left through the back door.
He said the journalist had been placed in a chokehold during which he accidentally died – and then his body was smuggled out of the building in a rolled-up carpet.
On Friday the kingdom admitted Mr Khashoggi was dead after repeatedly claiming the high-profile critic of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had walked out of the consulate unharmed.
It said the journalist was killed in a 'fist fight' and that the government had fired five top officials and arrested 18 others as a result of the initial investigation.
Yesterday Saudi foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir told Fox News: 'Unfortunately, a huge and grave mistake was made and I assure them that those responsible will be held accountable for this.' He added: 'We don't know where the body is.'
It came after a senior Saudi official, who requested anonymity, contradicted previous explanations. He said the team of 15 Saudis sent to confront Mr Khashoggi on October 2 had threatened him with being drugged and kidnapped, and then killed him in a chokehold when he resisted.
Madani then donned Mr Khashoggi's clothes, glasses and Apple watch before leaving the building to make it look like the journalist had left, it was claimed.
The body was then rolled up in a rug, taken out in a consular vehicle and given to a 'local co-operator' for disposal, he added. Forensic expert Salah Tubaigy tried to remove any trace of the incident, the official said.
Madani later went to the Sultanahmet district where he disposed of Mr Khashoggi's belongings, it was claimed. Asked about claims the journalist had been tortured and beheaded, the official said preliminary results of the investigation did not suggest so. 
The government wanted to convince Mr Khashoggi, who moved to Washington a year ago fearing reprisals for his views, to return to the kingdom as part of a campaign to prevent dissidents from being recruited by Saudi Arabia's enemies, the official said. 
But things soon went wrong as the team overstepped their orders and quickly employed violence, he added.

Did Saudi team take part of Khashoggi's body with them?

Turkish officials fear part of Jamal Khashoggi's body was transported out of the country by one of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's bodyguards, it has been claimed.
Middle East Eye says it has been told by sources that one member of the 15-strong team of Saudis who flew to Turkey on the day of the journalist's disappearance may have taken the body part out in a bag.
The intelligence officer, named as Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb, was seen boarding a private jet in Istanbul on October 2 at 6.20pm and 'appeared to be in a hurry', according to the source.
The unverified claims come amid reports that Khashoggi was cut into pieces after entering the Saudi embassy in the city on the same day.
Mutreb was a member of Prince Mohammed's entourage on trips to the United States, France and Spain this year.
It was claimed Mr Khashoggi told one of the men, Maher Mutreb, that he was violating diplomatic norms and said: 'What are you going to do with me? Do you intend to kidnap me?' Mutreb replied, 'Yes, we will drug you and kidnap you,' in what the official said was an attempt at intimidation that violated the mission's objective. When Mr Khashoggi raised his voice, the team panicked. They moved to restrain him, placing him in a chokehold and covering his mouth, according to the government's account.
'They tried to prevent him from shouting but he died,' the official said. 'The intention was not to kill him.'
Asked if the team had smothered Mr Khashoggi, the official explained: 'If you put someone of Jamal's age in this position, he would probably die.'
The official said the team then wrote a false report for superiors saying they had allowed Mr Khashoggi to leave once he warned that Turkish authorities could get involved.
The Saudi authorities initially dismissed reports that Mr Khashoggi had gone missing inside the consulate as false and said he had left the building soon after entering. When the Press reported a few days later that he had been killed there, they called the accusations 'baseless'.
Turkish officials believe the Saudis may have dumped his remains in Belgrad Forest near Istanbul, and at a rural location near the city of Yalova, 55 miles south of Istanbul.
Yesterday Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he would reveal the 'naked truth' about the killing at a briefing tomorrow. 
And this afternoon, Turkey's ruling party spokesman Omer Celik said Khashoggi's murder inside Riyadh's consulate was planned in a 'savage manner'.
Khashoggi's fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, (pictured) said he had handed her his two mobile phones and left instructions that she should wait for him and call an aide to Turkey's president if he did not reappear
Khashoggi's fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, (pictured) said he had handed her his two mobile phones and left instructions that she should wait for him and call an aide to Turkey's president if he did not reappear
Turkish media reported that a member of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's entourage made four calls to the royal's office from the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul the day Jamal Khashoggi (pictured) was killed there 
Turkish media reported that a member of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's entourage made four calls to the royal's office from the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul the day Jamal Khashoggi (pictured) was killed there 
Saudi foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir (pictured) insisted on Sunday that Prince Mohammed was 'not aware' of the killing and that the regime was still working on finding the body
Saudi foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir (pictured) insisted on Sunday that Prince Mohammed was 'not aware' of the killing and that the regime was still working on finding the body
Via - Dailymail
15 men investigated over missing journalist are caught on camera
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