Every day reveals further details of the apparent state-sanctioned murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Here is how events unfolded.
Image: picture-alliance/AA/M. E. Yildirim
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More than a month after the murder of well-known Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, no clear explanations have been given by Saudi Arabia with regards to his death.
With conflicting reports emerging of rogue operations and deadly fistfights, it is still uncertain whether the journalist's killers will be prosecuted.
DW has put together a timeline of the most important facts in this intricate case:
Jamal Khashoggi: A mysterious disappearance and death
Official Saudi statements on the fate of journalist Jamal Khashoggi have changed several times since he disappeared at the Istanbul consulate on October 2. DW traces the most important events in this intricate case.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/J. Martin
Vanishes into thin air
October 2: Prominent journalist Jamal Khashoggi was last seen entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, where he had gone to obtain an official document for his upcoming marriage to his Turkish fiancee, Hatice Cengiz. He never emerged from the building, prompting Cengiz, who waited outside, to raise the alarm.
Image: Reuters TV
Confusion over whereabouts
October 3: Turkish and Saudi officials came up with conflicting reports on Khashoggi's whereabouts. Riyadh said the journalist had left the mission shortly after his work was done. But Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said the journalist was still in the consulate.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/V. Mayo
Murder claims
October 6: Turkish officials said they believed the journalist was likely killed inside the Saudi consulate. The Washington Post, for which Khashoggi wrote, cited unnamed sources to report that Turkish investigators believe a 15-member team "came from Saudi Arabia" to kill the man.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/H. Jamali
Ankara seeks proof
October 8: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on Saudi Arabia to prove that Khashoggi left its consulate in Istanbul. Turkey also sought permission to search the mission premises. US President Donald Trump voiced concern about the journalist's disappearance.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/T. Kovacs
'Davos in the Desert' hit
October 12: British billionaire Richard Branson halted talks over a $1 billion Saudi investment in his Virgin group's space ventures, citing Khashoggi's case. He also pulled out of an investment conference in Riyadh dubbed the "Davos in the Desert." His move was followed by Uber's Dara Khosrowshahi, JP Morgan's Jamie Dimon and a host of other business leaders.
Image: picture alliance/dpa
Search operation
October 15: Turkish investigators searched the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. The search lasted more than eight hours and investigators removed samples from the building, including soil from the consulate garden and a metal door, one official said.
Image: Reuters/M. Sezer
Death after fistfight
October 19: Saudi Arabia finally admitted that Khashoggi died at the consulate. The kingdom's public prosecutor said preliminary investigations showed the journalist was killed in a "fistfight." He added that 18 people had been detained. A Saudi Foreign Ministry official said the country is "investigating the regrettable and painful incident."
Image: Getty Images/C. McGrath
'Grave mistake'
October 21: Saudi Arabia provided yet another account of what happened to Khashoggi. The kingdom's foreign minister admitted the journalist was killed in a "rogue operation," calling it a "huge and grave mistake," but insisted that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had not been aware of the murder. Riyadh said it had no idea where Khashoggi's body was.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/C. Owen
Germany halts arms sales
October 21: German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Germany would put arms exports to Saudi Arabia on hold for the time being, given the unexplained circumstances of Khashoggi's death. Germany is the fourth largest exporter of weapons to Saudi Arabia after the United States, Britain and France.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Sauer
Strangled to death, dissolved in acid
October 31: The Turkish prosecutor concluded that Khashoggi was strangled to death soon after entering the consulate, and was then dismembered. Another Turkish official later claimed the body was dissolved in acid. Turkish President Erdogan said the order to murder the journalist came from "the highest levels" of Saudi Arabia's government.
Image: picture-alliance/AA/M. E. Yildirim
Grilled at the UN
November 5: Saudi Arabia told the United Nations it would prosecute those responsible for Khashoggi's murder. This came as the United States and dozens of other countries raised the journalist's death before the UN Human Rights Council and called for a transparent investigation.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/F. Coffrini
Fiancee in mourning
November 8: Khashoggi's fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, wrote on Twitter that she was "unable to express her sorrow" upon learning that the journalist's body was dissolved with chemicals. "Are these killers and those behind it human beings?" she tweeted.
Image: Reuters/Haberturk
Turkey shares audio recordings
November 10: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reveals that officials from Saudi Arabia, the US, Germany, France and Britain have listened to audio recordings related to the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/Presidential Press Service
Symbolic funeral prayers
November 16: A symbolic funeral prayer for Khashoggi is held in the courtyard of the Fatih Mosque in Istanbul. Yasin Aktay, advisor to President Erdogan, speaks at the service.
Image: Reuters/M. Sezer
Saudi-owned villas searched
November 26: Turkish forensic police bring the investigation to the Turkish province of Yalova, where sniffer dogs and drones search two Saudi-owned villas in the village Samanli.
Image: Reuters/O . Orsal
100 days since killing
January 10: Amnesty International Turkey members demonstrate outside the Saudi Arabia Consulate in Istanbul, marking 100 day since the killing of Jamal Khashoggi. One woman holds up a street sign which reads "Jamal Khashoggi Street". The organization has called for an international investigation into the case.
Image: Reuters/M. Sezer
Saudi murder trial begins
January 3: The Khashoggi trial begins in Saudi Arabia, where state prosecutors say they will seek the death sentence for five of the eleven suspects. A request for the gathered evidence has been send to Turkish authorities. A date for the second hearing has not yet been set.
Image: picture-alliance/abaca/Depo Photos
UN inquiry team in Turkey
January 28: Agnes Callamard, who is leading the UN probe into the handling of the Khashoggi case, arrives in Ankara where she meets with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu. The human rights expect will stay in the country for the rest of the week to speak with prosecutors and others involved in the case.
October 2:Khashoggi enters the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, to obtain official documents ahead of his wedding. He had left his mobile phones with his Turkish fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, who waited for him outside. Hours later, when Khashoggi didn't emerge from the embassy, she called friends to tell them what had happened.
October 3: In an interview with Bloomberg, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman says Khashoggi had left the consulate "a few minutes or an hour" after he arrived. In the meantime, Turkish authorities say police have established that Khashoggi is still inside the Consulate.
October 6: Turkish officials say Khashoggi was killed inside the consulate. The Washington Post also cites a US official who claims the journalist's body was likely dismembered and flown out of the country.
October 19: Saudi Arabia finally admits that Khashoggi died in the consulate. The country's public prosecutor says preliminary investigations show the journalist died after "altercation" and a "fistfight." He adds that 18 people have been detained. A Saudi Foreign Ministry official states the country is "investigating the regrettable and painful incident."
October 20: The next day, Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel and other world leaders say Saudi Arabia's acknowledgment of Khashoggi's death is unsatisfactory. Merkel also announces there will be no further weapon exports to Saudi Arabia until the case had been solved.
October 21: In an interview, Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister provides yet another version of what happened to the journalist, saying he was killed in a "rogue operation" inside the consulate.
October 25: Saud al-Mojeb, Saudi Arabia's Attorney General, says evidence shows that Khashoggi's murder was premeditated, based on information provided from Turkish counterparts.
November 2: Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says the order to murder the journalist came from "the highest levels" of Saudi Arabia's government. A Turkish official claimed that Khashoggi's body was dissolved in acid.
November 5: Saudi Arabia tells the United Nations it will prosecute those responsible for Khashoggi's murder. This comes as the United States condemns the journalist's killing in front of the UN Human Rights Council and calls for a transparent investigation.
November 8: Khashoggi's fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, writes on Twitter that she is "unable to express her sorrow" upon learning that the journalist's body was dissolved with chemicals. "Are these killers and those behind it human beings?" she wrote. In a comment to the press, Cengiz said she had not received official confirmation of reports that her fiancée body has been dissolved.
November 11: Erdogan says that Turkey had let Saudi Arabia, the United States, Germany, France and Britain listen to tape recordings purported have been taken before and during Khashoggi's killing. The recordings from inside the consulate indicate the murder was premeditated, according to Turkish officials.
