It is nearly four weeks since the journalist Jamal Khashoggi disappeared from the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Saudi officials now admit that he was killed inside the embassy by a team of agents sent from Riyadh, but so far his body has not been recovered. What is the latest with the investigation? The only findings made public from the Turkish investigation so far is that freshly painted surfaces were found in the consulate and all of the cars searched had been “thoroughly cleaned”. Luminol, a chemical which detects traces of blood, has been used by forensics teams and dozens of boxes and bags of evidence have been taken for laboratory testing. Riyadh has not commented on the ongoing investigation. The latest focus in the search for Khashoggi’s remains is a well in the grounds of the consul general’s residence. Turkish investigators have been faced with several delays from their Saudi counterparts: permission to search the well has been denied at least three times. Since Khashoggi disappeared police have carried out at least three searches of the consulate building and one search of the consul general’s residence, as well as initial sweeps of Belgrad forest and farmland in Yalova province, where Turkey said cars belonging to the consulate travelled the night Khashoggi was killed. At least three cars have been searched, including a Mercedes found in an underground car park. Surveillance footage shows a package from the boot of the car being retrieved by a man driving a BMW also owned by the consulate. The BMW has not yet been found. At least 38 people have been questioned so far and Turkey announced on Friday it was dedicating a total of 750 police officers to the investigation. 01:09 Fiancee says Jamal Khashoggi was worried about visiting Saudi consulate - video What have Khashoggi’s family said? Khashoggi is survived by his ex-wife, two sons, two daughters and fiancee Hatice Cengiz. A statement from Khashoggi’s children has called on the United Nations to launch an independent inquiry into their father’s death and implored the Turkish and Saudi authorities to locate his remains so his funeral can be held. According to Riyadh, Khashoggi’s body was wrapped up in a rug and disposed of by an unidentified “local collaborator”, which means the Saudi authorities can claim they have no knowledge of its whereabouts. Three of Khashoggi’s four children, who are dual Saudi-US nationals, are believed to be subject to travel bans – a common form of punishment for the families of critics of the Saudi establishment. His eldest son Salah, however, flew to the US on Wednesday. Pictures of a grief-stricken Salah summoned to receive the condolences of King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman resonated with people around the world earlier this week. Donald Trump has invited Cengiz, Khashoggi’s Turkish fiancee who accompanied him to his fateful consulate appointment, to the White House, but the academic said she would only meet the president if he “makes a genuine contribution to the efforts to reveal what happened inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul that day”. The Istanbul governor’s office has put her under 24-hour police protection, but not elaborated on why the decision was taken. In an interview on Friday, Cengiz said she has not been contacted by Riyadh. Who are the 21 Saudis who have had their US visas revoked as a result of the killing? Nearly all are members of the Saudi security establishment, believed to be handpicked for Khashoggi’s assassination, by Mohammed’s most powerful aide, Saud al-Qahtani, a consigliere of the royal court. The 15 men sent to Istanbul are drawn from elite units of the military and intelligence agencies. Four come from the prince’s personal detail and some of them have been photographed providing security for him abroad. The man alleged to have dismembered Khashoggi inside the consulate walls is the head of forensics for the General Intelligence Directorate. Less is known about the three-member team that allegedly scouted a forest in Istanbul the day before the murder. However, they are also understood to be state employees. How will this killing affect crown prince Mohammed bin Salman’s influence and power? Confidence in the prince’s judgement and temperament has been seriously shaken. Observers say it could only have been carried out with his knowledge. Even his staunchest allies in the west have struggled to give him political cover. Those who had overlooked a regressive political landscape because of social and economic reforms, and downgraded ties between the state and religious establishment, may no longer be prepared to do so. Investors have fled, his celebrity pull has plummeted and even his reliability as a big picture partner of the Trump administration’s goals on the region is in question. Mohammed was seen as central to the US’s anti-Iran stance, and a regional outreach to Israel. Both bedrock policies could now flounder. Within the kingdom, the dissent he had ruthlessly tried to prevent now openly festers. It does not yet pose a challenge to his future on the throne. But he has clearly been diminished. How important is it for the UK to keep good diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia? The UK-Saudi Arabian relationship is seen in Whitehall as a diplomatic, security and economic necessity. Although the UK would prefer Saudi Arabia to conduct foreign policy in a different way – in Yemen, Qatar and Iran – the dominant Foreign Office view has been to regard it as a force for stability against Iran and bulwark against political Islam. The UK has as many as 100 military personnel in Riyadh, partly reflecting a military but also an intelligence relationship that stretches back to before the second world war. But the importance of Saudi trade for the economy is hotly disputed with critics of Riyadh claiming it is exaggerated, or focused on specific industries, such as arms production for which alternative export markets could be found. Advocates of the Saudi relationship claim that as Riyadh seeks to diversify out of oil and military equipment, the UK is well-placed to secure deals in green energy, health, education and infrastructure. The agreed goal signed in March by the crown prince during his visit to London is £65 bn ($90 bn) of mutual trade and investment. Britain sold £6.2bn worth of goods and services to Saudi Arabia in 2016. Much of this trade has a bias towards defence. Research published by Kings College argues the role of defence in the UK has been exaggerated. The Treasury netted only £30m from arms sales in 2016. How have countries in Europe and the Middle East reacted to the Khashoggi murder? Germany, Belgium, Austria and the European Parliament have led calls for a ban on arms sales to Saudi Arabia, but the two countries most likely to sell to Saudi – Britain and France – have held back. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has been short with reporters pressing him to comment, and said he is waiting for the investigation to end. France sold €1.5bn in arms to Riyadh last year. The UK has also announced it is withdrawing any visas from the gang of 18 Saudis allegedly responsible for Khashoggi’s killing, the minimum punishment possible and likely to be only the start of some form of co-ordinated response possibly at the level of G7 foreign ministers. Reaching a G7 consensus response has the advantage of making Saudi reprisals that much harder to contemplate, but may lead to less draconian western punishment. In the Gulf itself, criticism has been muted, but Qatar – which has been in a long running dispute with Saudi – has described the incident as a wake-up call for the entire region, and demanded a transparent investigation.<doc-sep>Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pressed Saudi Arabia on Friday to reveal the whereabouts of slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s body as well as who ordered the killing of Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist who was critical of the kingdom and lived in self-imposed exile in the United States. “He’s dead and this is very clear, but where is his body?” Erdogan said, speaking through a translator on video while addressing to members of his Justice and Development Party. “You have to show us his body.” Earlier in the week, reports in British, Chinese, and Russian media, all citing anonymous sources, said parts of Khashoggi's body were found at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, where he was last seen entering three weeks ago. In recent days, the focus of the search has turned to a well in the garden of the Saudi diplomatic compound. Authorities have also looked for Khashoggi's remains in a forest on the outskirts of Istanbul. Erdogan's comments Friday come days after he made similar demands in a speech before Turkey’s Parliament, in which he called on 18 suspects—all of whom are Saudi nationals—detained in Saudi Arabia to be extradited to Turkey to stand trial for what he's described as the premeditated and "savage" murder of Khashoggi. On Thursday, Saudi Arabian officials called Khashoggi’s death a “premeditated murder” – the third time they have changed their account of the killing in as many weeks. The kingdom initially said Khashoggi left the Saudi consulate unharmed on Oct. 2. Amid mounting international outrage, the Saudi government then asserted last Friday that Khashoggi died after a "brawl" escalated inside the Saudi diplomatic facility. Saudi Arabia’s top brass have tried to distance themselves from the murder, blaming it on a "rogue operation" and denying that the kingdom’s de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered Khashoggi’s death. “There obviously was a tremendous mistake made, and what compounded the mistake was the attempt to try to cover up,” Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir told Fox News on Sunday. “That is unacceptable in any government." "We are determined to punish those who are responsible for this murder," Al-Jubeir said. "The individuals who did this did this outside the scope of their authority." Read More: Slain journalist's son leaves Saudi Arabia Saudis now say Khashoggi’s murder ‘premeditated’ Khashoggi entered the Saudi consulate three weeks ago for routine paperwork needed to marry his Turkish fiancée and was reported missing soon after. The details of what happened from the time Khashoggi entered the compound to the moment of his death remain unknown. Over the past three weeks, audio recordings have been leaked to Turkish media that purport to reveal how Khashoggi was killed. And reports based on those yet unreleased audio files give a gruesome account alleging that Khashoggi was tortured and decapitated. Media reports say that CIA Director Gina Haspel listened to audio recordings of Khashoggi's murder when she was in Turkey earlier this week. In his address on Friday, Erdogan said that Turkey may have “other evidence” regarding Khashoggi's killing and that it will eventually reveal this information amid the ongoing investigation. The chief prosecutors of Turkey and Saudi Arabia are expected to meet on Monday. Kim Hjelmgaard, Deirdre Shesgreen and David Jackson contributed to this report.<doc-sep>A general manager of Alarab TV, Jamal Khashoggi, looks on during a press conference in the Bahraini capital Manama, on December 15, 2014. The pan-Arab satellite news broadcaster owned by billionaire Saudi businessman Alwaleed bin Talal will go on air February 1, promising to "break the mould" in a crowded field.AFP PHOTO/ MOHAMMED AL-SHAIKH (Photo credit should read MOHAMMED AL-SHAIKH/AFP/Getty Images) Who does Trump believe in journalist's death? (CNN) — Saudi Arabia Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir has said the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi was a “tremendous mistake” and part of a rogue operation, adding that his government would punish those responsible for his “murder.” “The individuals who did this did this outside the scope of their authority,” he told Fox News on Sunday. “There obviously was a tremendous mistake made, and what compounded the mistake was the attempt to try to cover up. That is unacceptable in any government.” Jubeir said that Saudi Arabia was taking action to investigate how Khashoggi died and hold those responsible accountable. “We are determined to uncover every stone. We are determined to find out all the facts. And we are determined to punish those who are responsible for this murder,” he said. On Monday CNN published surveillance footage that, a Turkish official said, showed a Saudi operative dressed up in Khashoggi’s clothes on the day the journalist was killed. The man, whom the Turkish official alleges is a body double, is seen at locations around Istanbul. Jubeir told Fox that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was not aware of the operation beforehand. “Even the senior leadership over intelligence service was not aware of this,” Jubeir said. The comments come a day after US President Donald Trump criticized Saudi Arabia’s explanation of Khashoggi’s death as “all over the place” in an interview with the Washington Post. However, the President also praised bin Salman, calling him a “strong person” with “very good control.” In the Post article published late Saturday, Trump said that “obviously there’s been deception and there’s been lies,” when asked about Saudi Arabia’s account of the killing of Khashoggi inside their Istanbul consulate almost three weeks ago. “Their stories are all over the place,” Trump said. But Trump was supportive of the Crown Prince’s leadership and reiterated the importance of economic ties between the two countries. “He’s seen as a person who can keep things under check,” Trump said of bin Salman, adding, “I mean that in a positive way.” “He truly loves his country,” said Trump, who added that he hadn’t “heard either way” whether the Crown Prince was responsible for Khashoggi’s killing. In his interview on Fox News, Jubeir said that Prince Salman was not closely tied to the people involved in the operation. Jubeir said Saudi Arabia did not know what happened to Khashoggi’s body and has not heard any audio from inside the consulate. He cautioned against reaching quick conclusions and told Baier to look up the timeline surrounding the US role at Abu Ghraib prison, the detention center where US soldiers were revealed to have beaten and tortured captured Iraqis during the Iraq War. “These things take time,” Jubeir told Fox News. Finally, he offered his condolences to Khashoggi’s family. “We feel their pain. And I wish this didn’t happen and I wish that this could’ve been avoided. Unfortunately, a huge and grave mistake was made. And I assure them, that those responsible will be held accountable for this,” he said. Many questions, few answers 02:02 - Source: CNN Congressman: Saudis are engaged in a cover-up An increasingly vocal chorus of international voices have to come to question Saudi Arabia’s story. Saudia Arabia has gone from blanket denials of any involvement to an admission Saturday morning that the journalist was, in fact, killed while visiting the consulate. On Sunday, the UK, French and German foreign ministers released a joint statement on Khashoggi, noting Saudi Arabia’s preliminary findings but calling for an “urgent need for clarification” on what exactly happened after he entered the consulate on October 2. “Nothing can justify this killing,” the statement said. In a speech in Istanbul on Sunday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he would make remarks on the case on Tuesday. Turkey’s state news agency Anadolu, citing Turkey’s presidential press office, reported early Monday that Erdogan and Trump talked by phone about the Khashoggi situation and “have agreed to shed light on all aspects” of the incident. The White House did not have any immediate comment on the Anadolu report. A senior US State Department official told CNN that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu Sunday night and once again offered US assistance with the Khashoggi investigation. The official Saudi line is that Khashoggi died accidentally after a confrontation in the consulate descended into a brawl. A source with close connections to the Saudi royal palace told CNN that Saudis concluded that Khashoggi’s cause of death was a chokehold or strangulation, but officials provided no evidence to support the conclusion. The altercation involved multiple Saudi officials at the country’s consulate in Istanbul, according to the statement. It said the suspects later tried to cover up the incident. Meanwhile Turkish officials say 15 Saudis traveled to Istanbul on the day of Khashoggi’s disappearance. They say privately that he was dismembered at the consulate, and Saudi authorities have failed to produce his body or say where they believe it to be. A source close to the Saudi Royal Palace told CNN that the location of Khashoggi’s body is not known to the Saudis. The source said the body was handed over to a local “collaborator” after the killing, adding that it is not at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. CNN cannot verify the assertion. ’Give us Jamal’ Speaking to reporters outside Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul on Saturday, Turan Kislakci, the head of the Turkish-Arab Media Association and a friend of Khashoggi, called on Saudi Arabia to hand over the journalist’s body. OSMAN ORSAL/REUTERS Turan Kislakci, head of the Turkish-Arab Media Association, talks to the media in front of Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul. “Give us Jamal, so we can have a funeral for him. So that all people who care about him, world leaders, can come here to Istanbul for the funeral,” he said. Khashoggi’s fiancée, Hatice Cengiz, reacted to the news of his death on Twitter on Saturday evening. She tweeted footage of Khashoggi speaking and being filmed when a cat unexpectedly jumps into his lap. He looks down and smiles. Khashoggi and the film crew laugh. “They took your bodily presence from my world,” Cengiz wrote. “But your beautiful laugh will remain in my soul forever.” They took your bodily presence from my world. But your beautiful laugh will remain in my soul forever. My darling #jkhashoggi #JamalKhashoggi#JusticeForJamal pic.twitter.com/vJOfhL6dEq — Hatice Cengiz / خديجة (@mercan_resifi) October 20, 2018 The governor’s office in Istanbul on Sunday said Cengiz has been placed under 24-hour protection. Turkish police will carry out the order, state news agency Anadolu reported. Explanations ‘lack credibility’ While the Trump administration continues to give the Saudi explanation at least some benefit of the doubt, some of the US’ longest-standing allies have been sharply critical of the Kingdom’s version of events. British minister Dominic Raab said Sunday that the Saudi explanation of Khashoggi’s death was not credible. “The British government will want to see people held to account for that death,” the minister for Brexit told the BBC’s Andrew Marr show. Canada released a brief statement, calling Riyadh’s statement into question. “The explanations offered to date lack consistency and credibility,” Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland said in a statement. “We reiterate our call for a thorough investigation, in full collaboration with the Turkish authorities, and a full and rigorous accounting of the circumstances surrounding Mr. Khashoggi’s death. “Those responsible for the killing must be held to account and must face justice.” UN Secretary-General António Guterres was “deeply troubled” by the explanation, his spokesman said. And in a sharp rebuke, German Chancellor Angela Merkel rejected the Saudi statement, saying that her government expected “transparency in terms of death and background. Those responsible must be held accountable.<doc-sep>
The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has made fresh demands on Saudi Arabia to disclose the location of Jamal Khashoggi’s body and identify who ordered his killing, in a sign that Ankara is willing to keep up the pressure on the beleaguered kingdom. Eighteen men arrested in Saudi Arabia “must know” who killed the journalist and where his remains were taken, Erdoğan said in parliament on Friday, adding that the person who “gave the orders” for the alleged murder must be brought to justice and the suspects extradited for trial in Istanbul. Riyadh’s changing accounts of what happened have been “comic”, the president said, calling them “childish statements … not compatible with the seriousness of a nation state”. “Who gave that order? If you want to eliminate the suspicion [about you], the key question is these 18 people,” Erdoğan said. “You know how to make people talk,” he added, in a reference to the powerful Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman. “But if you cannot make them talk, then hand them over to us. This incident happened in Istanbul. Let us put them on trial.” Erdoğan also urged the Saudis to identify the “local collaborator” whom they say disposed of Khashoggi’s remains. His pointed remarks come after he spoke to the heir to the Saudi throne for the first time on Wednesday about cooperating in the evolving diplomatic crisis. Erdoğan has used the case to exert pressure on his Saudi rival, whom many believe must at a minimum have been aware of the operation, which involved several members of his personal guard and other senior officials. Jamal Khashoggi disappeared inside the Saudi consulate this month. Photograph: Hasan Jamali/AP Riyadh has gone to great lengths to insulate Prince Mohammed from any responsibility for Khashoggi’s death. After various denials and explanations for what happened to the dissident Saudi writer when he attended a consulate appointment in Istanbul this month, Saudi Arabia said for the first time on Thursday the investigation’s evidence pointed to a “premeditated” killing. Riyadh had previously said Khashoggi died during a fight with Saudi officials carrying out a rogue extradition operation, and that his body was rolled up in a rug and disposed of by an unidentified third party. Turkish investigators allege Khashoggi was tortured before his death and his body dismembered with a bone saw by a 15-man hit team. Saudi Arabia’s shifting story has been met with scepticism by Ankara and much of the rest of the international community. Earlier this week Erdoğan said Turkish investigators had clear evidence Khashoggi was murdered in a premeditated, political crime. The Saudi admission on Thursday raised further questions as to who in the Saudi establishment had the authority to order an international murder operation. Police have focused the search for the journalist’s remains on a well in the garden of the nearby consul general’s residence and woodland areas outside the city, but without any breakthroughs so far. There are several avenues of investigation that have yet to be explored, Erdoğan told members of his AK party in Friday’s address. Riyadh is sending the Saudi public prosecutor to Istanbul on Sunday to assist the investigation. On Thursday it emerged Khashoggi’s eldest son had left Saudi Arabia for the US. Salah Khashoggi, who holds dual Saudi-US citizenship, had been barred from travelling outside the kingdom in recent months. Earlier in the week he was summoned to receive condolences from the crown prince.