Pompeo in Turkey as new report claims damning evidence against Saudis

FAN Editor

ANKARA, Turkey — A pro-government Turkish newspaper on Wednesday published a gruesome recounting of the alleged slaying of Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, just as America’s top diplomat arrived in the country for talks over the Washington Post columnist’s disappearance. The report by Yeni Safak adds to the ever-increasing pressure on Saudi Arabia to explain what happened to Khashoggi, who vanished Oct. 2 while visiting the consulate to pick up paperwork he needed to get married.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told journalists before leaving Riyadh on Wednesday that Saudi leaders, including King Salman and his son, the 33-year-old Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, “made no exceptions on who they would hold accountable.”

“They made a commitment to hold anyone connected to any wrongdoing that may be found accountable for that, whether they are a senior officer or official,” Pompeo said.

However, no major decision is made outside of the ultraconservative kingdom’s ruling Al Saud family. Khashoggi had fled the country last year amid the rise of Prince Mohammed, whom he wrote critically about in the Post.

The Yeni Safak report cited what it described as an audio recording of Khashoggi’s slaying, which it said showed the writer was tortured.

The newspaper said Saudi Consul General Mohammed al-Otaibi could be heard on the tape, telling those allegedly torturing Khashoggi: “Do this outside; you’re going to get me in trouble.”

The newspaper said one of the Saudis allegedly torturing Khashoggi replied: “Shut up if you want to live when you return to (Saudi) Arabia.”

Al-Otaibi left Turkey on Tuesday afternoon, Turkish state media reported, as a search of his residence in Istanbul by Turkish investigators was reportedly delayed by Saudi officials neglecting to give official permission. Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu told the state-run Anadolu Agency on Wednesday that Saudi Arabia has “accepted” a request for a search of the official residence but had not yet given its final consent.

Soylu said: “As soon as (Saudi Arabia) gives the consent, steps will be taken toward investigating.”

Security services in Turkey have used pro-government media to leak alleged details of Khashoggi’s case, adding to the pressure on the kingdom.

U.S. reaction 

President Donald Trump, who earlier warned of “severe punishment” if the kingdom was found culpable for Khashoggi’s disappearance, criticized the allegations against the kingdom and compared it to the accusations of sexual assault leveled against now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearing.

“Here we go again with you’re guilty until proven innocent,” Mr. Trump told the AP in an interview.

CBS News chief White House correspondent Major Garrett says President Trump has thus far given the Saudis every benefit of the doubt, and taken almost no visible steps to seek hard evidence about the possible murder in their Istanbul consulate.

The administration continues to defer to the Saudi timetable and to the kingdom’s approach to fact-finding, instead of demanding the involvement of U.S. investigators or backing the Khashoggi family’s request for an international investigation. That leaves the unmistakable impression, says Garrett, that the White House is bending over backwards to accommodate Saudi appeals for time to explain what many fear was a brazen human rights violation.

Mr. Trump’s attitude, however, does not appear to be shared with Congress, as one prominent Republican senator said he believed that the crown prince, widely known as MBS, had Khashoggi “murdered.”

This guy has got to go,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, speaking on Fox television. “Saudi Arabia, if you’re listening, there are a lot of good people you can choose, but MBS has tainted your country and tainted himself.”

As CBS News’ Pamela Falk reports, the White House — and the U.S. Congress — have more power than ever before to act against a rogue state or entity deemed guilty of violating someone’s human rights.

Congress could block arms sales or suspend military cooperation with Saudi Arabia in Yemen, downgrade political relations, or some combination of any of those measures, using the 2012 Magnitsky Act, which gave Congress the ability to request sanctions that would previously have been impossible due to diplomatic immunity.

“Certain evidence”

The Washington Post has published the blurred passports of what Turkish officials claim are members of a 15 man Saudi team alleged to have played a role in Khashoggi’s death. Unverified reports suggest one member was a forensic doctor, and the New York Times is reporting another has close links to the crown prince.

Some reports have suggested that Khashoggi’s body may have been taken from the consulate and disposed of at the residence, though CBS News cannot independently verify those claims.

On Tuesday, a high-level Turkish official told the AP that police found “certain evidence” of Khashoggi’s slaying at the consulate, without elaborating. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing.

And as CBS News correspondent Holly Williams reports, it was only on Monday — 13 days after Khashoggi went missing — that the Saudis even permitted Turkish investigators into the consulate. But that didn’t stop the smiles, and laughter, as Pompeo met on Monday with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who called the two nations “strong and old allies, so we face our challenges together.”

Police plan to search the Saudi consul general’s home, as well as some of the country’s diplomatic vehicles, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said. Leaked surveillance video shows that diplomatic cars traveled to the consul general’s home shortly after Khashoggi went into the consulate.

Earlier Tuesday, U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said the “inviolability or immunity” of people or premises granted under the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations “should be waived immediately.” That convention covers diplomatic immunity, as well as the idea that embassies and consulates sit on foreign soil in their host countries.

“Given there seems to be clear evidence that Mr. Khashoggi entered the consulate and has never been seen since, the onus is on the Saudi authorities to reveal what happened to him,” Bachelet said.

Nils Melzer, the U.N. special investigator on torture, said that if Turkey and Saudi Arabia can’t conduct “a credible and objective investigation,” then international involvement may be needed.

Mr. Trump’s previous warnings over the case drew an angry response Sunday from Saudi Arabia and its state-linked media, including a suggestion that Riyadh could wield its oil production as a weapon. The U.S. president has been after King Salman and OPEC to boost production to drive down high oil prices, caused in part by the coming re-imposition of oil sanctions on Iran.

A way out?

Pompeo was dispatched to Saudi Arabia and Turkey on Monday, immediately after President Trump had a phone call with the Saudi king, whom he said denied any knowledge of Khashoggi’s fate.

Speaking to journalists after that phone call, Mr. Trump offered a possible explanation to counter Turkish officials’ assertion that a team of 15 Saudi operatives arrived at their consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2 and killed and dismembered the Saudi writer. It could have been “rogue killers,” Mr. Trump suggested.

But after two weeks of flat denials from the Saudi regime of any role in Khashoggi’s disappearance, two sources close to the kingdom confirmed to CBS News later on Monday that the Saudi government was planning to admit he was killed, but call it an accident.

The officials told CBS News reporter Kylie Atwood that the Saudi government was expected to claim a mission was approved by King Salman’s son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (often referred to as MBS), to interrogate Khashoggi, but not kill him. They will say, according to Atwood’s sources, that the journalist died as the result of an interrogation by Saudi operatives that went wrong. 

That could, like Mr. Trump’s softening comments, seek to give the kingdom a way out of the global firestorm of criticism over Khashoggi’s fate.

Free America Network Articles

Leave a Reply

Next Post

Mega Millions jackpot at $868 million, the second-largest US lottery prize ever

The top prize for the U.S. lottery Mega Millions has reached $868 million, the second-largest grand prize in U.S. history. Lottery officials upped the jackpot, which had been at $667 million, after nobody claimed the win in Tuesday’s draw. The next draw takes place on Friday. The jackpot has been […]