Khashoggi had written a series of columns for the Washington Post that were critical of Saudi Arabia's assertive Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has led a widely publicized drive to reform the Sunni monarchy but has also presided over the arrests of activists and businessmen. The footage all seemed to come from surveillance cameras, which would have been posted throughout the district housing the Saudi consulate and other diplomatic missions. Two corporate jets rented from a company frequently used by the Saudi government arrived in Istanbul on 2 October and left separately the same evening. Turkish investigators believe the CCTV footage from inside the consulate was onboard. He was one of the few public intellectuals to openly critique the new administration of the crown prince, and heir to the throne, Mohammed bin Salman. On Tuesday, his fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, used an opinion piece for the newspaper to appeal to Donald Trump for help “shed light” on the disappearance. “I also urge Saudi Arabia, especially King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, to show the same level of sensitivity and release CCTV footage from the consulate,” Cengiz wrote. US officials told the Guardian that Turkey had earlier put the evidence it had gathered directly to Saudi officials and had authorised a series of state-sanctioned leaks intended to pressure Riyadh when those officials had refused to respond.
– A growing amount of evidence points toward Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi having been brutally murdered and dismembered inside Saudi Arabia's Istanbul consulate, officials say. A senior official tells the New York Times that a team of 15 Saudi agents arrived on charter planes the day Khashoggi vanished, including an autopsy expert suspected of having dismembered the Saudi journalist with a bone saw inside the consulate, which he had visited to obtain marriage paperwork. "It is like Pulp Fiction," the official says. The AP reports that Turkish media have released images of the alleged "assassination squad." One pro-Turkish government newspaper, however, suggests that Khashoggi may have been smuggled out of the country alive. State-run Turkish broadcaster TRT also aired video of a black van leaving the consulate around two hours after Khashoggi arrived and traveling to the consul general's home 1.2 miles away. Investigators believe that the 15 agents spent several hours at the home before traveling to the airport in a convoy of six cars, one of which allegedly carried Khashoggi's remains, the Guardian reports. They left Turkey the same day they arrived, and investigators believed they may have taken CCTV footage from the embassy with them. Saudi officials, who insist that Khashoggi left their consulate without incident, have said they will allow Turkish police to search the building.