Missing Saudi journalist 'murdered and dismembered' inside his country's consulate in Istanbul while fiancée waited outside, claims friend

'Murdered': Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi
REUTERS
Asher McShane7 October 2018

Turkish officials have claimed a missing Saudi journalist was killed inside his own country's consulate in Istanbul last week.

Jamal Khashoggi was said to have been killed in what Turkish police claimed was the deliberate targeting of a prominent critic of the Gulf kingdom's rulers.

Mr Khashoggi entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to get documents for his forthcoming marriage, according to reports.

Saudi officials say he left shortly afterwards but his fiancee, who was waiting outside, said he never came out.

A friend of a Mr Khasoggi today said officials told him to "make your funeral preparations".

Saudi officials gather outside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul
AFP/Getty Images

Turan Kislakci, a friend of Jamal Khashoggi and the head of the Turkish-Arab Media Association, said officials also told him they "have evidence he was killed in a barbaric way" and dismembered.

Saudi officials have denied the allegations that Mr Khashoggi was killed as "baseless".

One Turkish official said authorities believe Mr Khashoggi was killed at the Saudi consulate, while another said it was a "high possibility".

Police said their initial assessment was that Mr Khashoggi had been murdered
AFP/Getty Images

Turkish police said: "The initial assessment of the Turkish police is that Mr Khashoggi has been killed at the consulate of Saudi Arabia in Istanbul.

"We believe that the murder was premeditated and the body was subsequently moved out of the consulate."

The President of Turkey said the Saudi Consulate and Istanbul's airports are being closely monitored for clues.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan said today that he is still hopeful that Jamal Khashoggi is alive.

"God willing we will not be faced with the situation we do not desire," he added.

The comment apparently referred to Turkish officials saying they believed that Mr Khashoggi was killed at the Saudi Consulate after disappearing on Tuesday.

Mr Erdogan called Mr Khashoggi a "journalist and a friend".

He said he was personally following the case and would announce the results of the investigation at an undisclosed time.

Mr Khashoggi, a former newspaper editor in Saudi Arabia and adviser to its former head of intelligence, left the country last year saying he feared retribution for his growing criticism of Saudi policy in the Yemen war and its crackdown on dissent.

Reporting by agencies

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