At the start of this story I wrote that I was SURE #Khashoggi had been told “by someone he trusted״ that it was safe to go to the Istanbul consulate. That he was observant & no fool.
Khalid told Khashoggi, a contributing columnist to The Washington Post, that he should go to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to retrieve the documents and gave him assurances that it would be safe to do so."
this is Saudi Arabia's Ambassador to the US - who then said "the reports that suggest that Jamal Khashoggi went missing in the Consulate in Istanbul or that the Kingdom’s authorities have detained him or killed him are absolutely false"
Today, Khalid bin Salman denied communicating with Khashoggi, so did the embassy spokeswoman - but the CIA has intercepted a communication - WSJ suggests this was on Whats App. So that's a lie. And the Congressional intel committee heard about this Thurs
Also today the funerary Salat al-Gha'ib (for the dead whose body is missing) was said for Khashoggi in Mecca, in Medina, and also in the Fatih mosque in Istanbul. aljazeera.com/news/2018/11/f…
To understand the timing of leaks or info. to the media -Turkey has prodded w leaks aimed at the US. CIA chief heard the 7 min. tape previously. The Saudis "concluded" their "investigation"& so the off-record statement from the CiA 'should' have an impact despite KbS' denials.
Heartfelt farewell and explanation of the funeral prayer for the "absent" by JK's friend Yasin Aktay yenisafak.com/en/columns/yas…
WaPo's smoking gun is the communication between JK and Khalid bin Salman. & the CIA concludes that MbS knew - really, honestly, the CIA knew this after the audio tapes were heard. And remember there were already intercepted comms concerning the luring of Khashoggi back to KSA
On BBC Live, we discussed whether this CIA assessment (& other new factors like the 15 min. audio) are “enough” to implicate MbS & if only the money at stake is preventing that.
My interviewer asked: “Can KSA ever be part of the internat’l community given this flagrant behavior?”
I am only positive of the fact that Saudi Arabians want to be oart of the internat’l community & deserve better (as Jamal Khashoggi himself put it).
But that requires justice for Jamal, release of MANY political prisoners, a moratorium on arms sales, a change in policy on Yemen (which MbS has said is a bad idea), end to guardianship & much more.
KbS doesn’t understand that the CIA wants the public to know what it knows and why. To force some hands.
Referring again to 1st tweet of thread I see that @iyad_elbaghdadi (see his thread) also saw that Jamal changed his plans (otherwise why not obtain divorce doc fr. DC). As I told BBC, he wouldn’t have dreamed he’d be murdered with that reassurance fr KbS.
From Iyad al-Baghdadi “Then on October 15th, I received a leak from someone who claimed to be a Saudi source. He claimed that MBS "chose" Istanbul for disappearing Jamal way before the incident. He didn't mention when, but he seemed to suggest it was weeks before.”
More to follow up on MbS closest advisors Saud al-Qahtani and Turki al-Sheikh, the sports empressario. #Khashoggi wrote that they were thuggish. #Egypt’s al-Ahly fans will agree after Turki’s efforts there. Both were among kidnappers of Mohammad Bin Nayef.
Many interesting details here on al-Sheikh and al-Qahtani here in James Dorsey's piece. Al-Qahtani was relieved of some duties (we don't know which) but many Twitter accounts created in October '18 may be related to him. linkedin.com/pulse/saudi-sp…
Also on al-Qahtani and al-Sheikh in Hubbard and Kirkpatrick's NYT piece. The important detail - neither is among the 18 arrested for #Khashoggi's murder despite Turkish claims about al-Qahtani - nytimes.com/2018/11/14/wor…
Back to AMB Khalid bin Salman: If your older brother, the most powerful person in KSA asked to you to tell, or have someone else tell #Khashoggi to obtain a doc in #Istanbul, would u? And would u ask why? I'd ask my brother. A non-response might mean nothing should be said.
