Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Reuters quoted an anonymous senior official of the Saudi Arabian government as saying that a group of 15 Saudis on October 2 went to Istanbul, Türkiye, to meet journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
According to the above official, Saudi Arabia wants to persuade Khashoggi to return home.
To carry out the plan, Deputy Director of Saudi Arabia’s Intelligence Agency Ahmed al-Asiri sent a group of 15 people to Istanbul to meet Khashoggi at the consulate.
However, things did not go as planned when the group of 15 people acted beyond orders and used force.
Khashoggi was led to the office of the Saudi consul general.
Hatice Cengiz, Khashoggi’s fiancee, once said he gave her two cell phones and told her to wait near the consulate.
In the consul general’s office, Khashoggi told Mutreb that he was violating diplomatic principles.
`Yes, we will drug and kidnap you,` Mutreb replied.
When Khashoggi raised his voice, the Saudi group began to panic.
According to the above source, to cover up the incident, the Saudi group rolled Khashoggi up in a carpet, took him out in a consulate vehicle and then handed the body over to a `local accomplice` for disposal.
Meanwhile, agent Mustafa Madani wore Khashoggi’s clothes, glasses and watch and left the consulate through the back door to pretend he had left the building.
The group of 15 people wrote a fake report to their superiors, claiming they let Khashoggi go when he warned that Turkish officials might be involved in the incident.
Some people have questioned why Saudi Arabia needed to send so many military officers and forensic experts to Türkiye if their goal was only to convince Khashoggi to return home.
Riyadh has so far only announced that Khashoggi died at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul after a fight.
Vu Hoang
Hannah