Merkel calls Saudi king to condemn Khashoggi killing
October 25, 2018
The finding contradicts earlier assertions that Khashoggi's death at Riyadh's Turkish consulate was accidental. Chancellor Angela Merkel has called for a quick, transparent and credible investigation.
Image: picture alliance/abaca/Balkis Press
Advertisement
Saudi prosecutors said the alleged killers of Jamal Khashoggi acted intentionally, in comments published by Saudi news agency SPA.
The finding runs completely counter to earlier assertions that Khashoggi's death at Riyadh's Turkish consulate was accidental. Saudi officials initially claimed that Khashoggi had left the embassy safely.
Turkish forensic officials at the Saudi consul's residence in IstanbulImage: Reuters/M. Sezer
"Information has come from the Turkish side indicating that the suspects in the Khashoggi case embarked on their act with a premeditated intention," Saudi Attorney General Saud al-Mojeb said.
"The public prosecution continues its investigations with the accused in light of what it has received and the results of its inquiry," he added.
Merkel calls for investigation
Angela Merkel's spokesman said on Thursday that the Chancellor had spoken with Saudi King Salman and condemned the killing "in the sharpest possible manner." She called for a quick, transparent and credible investigation of Khashoggi's death and for all those responsible to be held accountable.
Khashoggi's eldest son was reported to have flown out of Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, according to Reuters. Salah Khashoggi was seen at the royal palace on Tuesday, shaking hands with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. According to Human Rights Watch, Salah Khashoggi is on his way to the United States after a travel ban on him was lifted.
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.
Saudi Arabian authorities have been trying to distance Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman from Khashoggi's killing. The prince on Thursday chaired the first meeting of a committee to overhaul the general intelligence agency, SPA reported.
Salman called Khashoggi's killing "heinous" and "painful to all Saudis" in his first public remarks on the incident on Wednesday.
At the weekend 18 Saudis were arrested, and four senior intelligence officials and a royal adviser were fired.
On Thursday the Reuters news agency and The Washington Post reported Turkey had shared audio recordings of the killing with CIA Director Gina Haspel, marking the first time Turkish investigators officially shared information with the US.
Germany's economic affairs minister, Peter Altmaier, who is on a two-day visit to Turkey to boost trade ties, praised Turkish efforts to shed light on the killing and said "many question marks" remain.
EU parliament urges arms embargo
The European Parliament on Thursday passed a resolution urging an arms embargo on Saudi Arabia in response to Khashoggi's killing. The assembly believed it was "very unlikely" the killing was committed without Salman's knowledge as he was in "complete control" of Saudi Arabia's security services.
The resolution called for "an impartial, international investigation into his death to find out what actually happened inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on 2 October, and for those responsible to be brought to justice."
Ska Keller, a German member of the European Green Party, said: "EU countries must not continue to turn a blind eye to the serious human rights violations committed by the Saudi government."
