Khashoggi murder, failed body double cover-up

This 22 October 2018 video says about itself:

CCTV: Jamal Khashoggi’s final day alive

Footage released by Turkish media on Saturday, October 20 shows some of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s final moments alive, before his subsequent disappearance and death inside Istanbul’s Saudi Consulate on Tuesday, October 2.

Translated from Dutch daily Metro today:

On that day [2 October, when journalist Khashoggi had been told to return to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul], the consulate gave all Turkish staff a day off. While his fiancée was waiting outside, Khashoggi never returned. The journalist is said to have been tortured by the Saudi death squad, who cut off his fingers. Later his head was cut off. The body was cut into pieces and carried away in boxes. …

This AFP photo shows a demonstrator dressed as Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman holding ‘the royal bone saw’ outside the White House in Washington D.C., USA.

Private jets

The New York Times revealed that the suspects were associates of crown prince Mohammad bin Salman. One of them is forensic physician Salah al-Tubaigy, who went to Turkey on the day of Khashoggi’s disappearance with fourteen others on two private jets. He is said to have been responsible for cutting up the body.

Mustafa al-Madani is one of the others who belonged to the group flying from Saudi Arabia to Istanbul on 2 October. He is the man who was unveiled by CNN yesterday as Khashoggi’s body double. Security cameras have recorded how the man was supposed to suggest that the Saudi journalist had left “normally” after visiting the consulate.

Shirt

Frame by frame one can see how the operation was performed. On the day of the murder, Al-Madani arrives at the Saudi consulate in a blue-white blouse shirt and jeans at 11:06. Just over two hours later, Khashoggi comes in gray pants and a black jacket. Later in the day, the body double walks in the clothes of the man who has just been killed by the back door to outside. Almost everything is the same: his posture, beard, glasses, clothes. Only the shoes differ from those of Khashoggi.

Why were the shoes different? Because the Saudi death squad were incompetent murderers? Or because Khashoggi’s shoes were too covered in blood for Al-Madani to wear?

Together with another man, the body double visits the famous Blue Mosque, Istanbul’s largest tourist attraction. An ideal place to disappear into the crowd, as CNN’s reporter calls it in her revealing report. On camera images, however, it is clear how the two men go to a toilet room. The body double’s sidekick has a plastic bag in his hand, which most likely contains Al-Madani’s own clothes. Because when the gentlemen left the toilet, the body double is not a body double anymore. He has the blue-white checkered shirt and jeans on.

The next stop is a restaurant, where Al-Madani appears without glasses and beard. A moment later his sidekick dumps the plastic bag, which probably contained Khashoggi’s clothes. The last picture CNN shows comes from the hotel where the two men stayed. At the lift they are waiting, thinking that their mission has been successful.

SAUDI ‘ASSASSIN’ SPOTTED WEARING KHASHOGGI’S CLOTHES One of the 15 Saudi men sent to confront journalist Jamal Khashoggi was seen on surveillance video after the killing walking around Istanbul wearing a fake beard and the victim’s clothing. [HuffPost]

REVEALED: The Saudi death squad MBS [Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman] uses to silence dissent. Middle East Eye exclusively reveals details about the tiger squad, a team of assassins targeting Saudi critics at home and abroad.

U.S. HYPOCRISY OF KHASHOGGI OUTRAGE Some of the most prominent U.S. foreign policy figures urging a tough response to the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi are earning thousands of dollars each month from the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia’s closest partner and a vocal defender of the Saudi narrative about how he died. [HuffPost]

Jamal Khashoggi: Saudi journalist’s body parts found, say Sky sources. Reports the writer’s “cut up” remains were found in the garden of the Saudi consul’s house, are “deeply disturbing”: here.