Search for Khashoggi's remains extends to Saudi consul general's residence

Floodlights and a drone have been deployed in the search of the Saudi consul general’s residence in Istanbul after Turkish investigators were finally allowed access to the property, where it is believed a Saudi hit squad sent to silence the dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi disposed of his remains.

The forensics team left the premises early on Thursday after conducting a nine-hour sweep of the residence and consular vehicles. The consulate itself was also searched for a second time.

Of particular focus to investigators appeared to be the garage below the consul general’s home, and parts of the property’s garden were dug up.

It was not immediately clear what the search revealed, but investigators took several boxes and bags away with them. The Turkish interior ministry promised the results would be “shared with the world”.

The Turkish pro-government newspaper Sabah published pictures on Thursday taken from surveillance video outside the consulate which it said identified a man thought to be a member of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s security staff entering the building on the morning of 2 October, the day Khashoggi vanished.

The suspect is seen arriving with several other men at 9.55am. Khashoggi arrived for an appointment at 1.14pm.

Sabah also published stills from videos that day showing the same man outside the consul general’s home and later checking out of a nearby hotel. The stills match the profile of one of the 15 Saudi nationals photographed two weeks ago at Istanbul’s Atatürk airport. Turkish officials believe the 15-person team was behind the alleged murder inside the diplomatic mission.

A previous search of the consulate on Monday night revealed “toxic substances” and freshly painted surfaces, the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, told reporters.

The consul general, Mohammad al-Otaibi, left the country with his family for Riyadh on Tuesday, after it was announced that his residence would become part of the criminal investigation.

The US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, said on Thursday that Riyadh and Ankara should be given a few more days to complete their investigation, and raised the possibility that the US might ultimately choose not to respond. He said the long US-Saudi alliance should be taken into account.

Speaking at the White House after briefing Donald Trumpon his trip to Riyadh and Ankara, Pompeo said: “I told President Trump this morning



that we ought to give them a few more days to complete [the enquiry] so that we would have complete understanding of the facts surrounding that, at which point we can make decisions about how, or if, the United States should respond to the incidents surrounding Mr Khashoggi,.

“I think it’s important for us to remember that we have had, since 1932, a long strategic relationship with the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”

Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist who left Saudi Arabia for the US in self-imposed exile last year, has not been seen since he visited the consulate on 2 October to pick up paperwork for his planned marriage.

Over the past two weeks Turkish officials have leaked increasingly shocking evidence that they say proves that the journalist, who was critical of the Saudi crown prince, was tortured and killed inside the building and his dismembered body driven to the nearby consul general’s house where it was disposed of.

Turkish and US media published details from a three-minute audio recording on Wednesday that Turkish officials described as proof that Khashoggi had his fingers severed during an interrogation. His killers then allegedly beheaded him and cut up his body with a bone saw brought by a forensics specialist who travelled with the assassination team.

On the tape, the alleged doctor can be heard explaining that he likes to listen to music while he works, and encouraging others in the room to put headphones on.

Riyadh has denied the allegations, despite reports in the US media that the kingdom was considering acknowledging that Khashoggi may have died in a botched rendition operation.

On Thursday, the UK’s international trade secretary, Liam Fox, and the French finance minister, Bruno Le Maire, joined a growing list of government ministers and prominent business executives cancelling their attendance at a Saudi Arabia investment conference.

Both the UK and France enjoy close diplomatic ties and commercial relations with Riyadh spanning energy, finance and arms. The UK’s Department for International Trade said the “time is not right” for Fox to go to the Future Investment Initiative on 23 October. Le Maire said his absence would not jeopardise French relations with the Saudis.

Despite the growing body of evidence and a tide of international condemnation over the alleged murder, the House of Saud’s friends in the Trump administration have stood firmly by their most important Arab ally.