Jamal Khashoggi murder trial: Consulate worker says he was told to ‘light up the oven’

A Saudi consulate worker in Istanbul told a Turkish court on July 3 that he had been called and asked to light a tandoor oven after Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi entered the building where he was murdered. Zeki Demir, a local technician who worked for the consulate, testified in the court saying there were around half-a-dozen people present at the consulate building, asking him to light up an oven.

"There were five to six people there... They asked me to light up the tandoor (oven). There was an air of panic," said Demir in his spine-chilling testimony.

Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist, went to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018 when he was murdered and his body was dismembered. Last year, a Saudi court sentenced five people to death and prison term to three people but exonerated Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s inner circle. 

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Following the judgement, Agnes Callamard, UN Special Rapporteur on Extra-Judicial Executions, had said that the hitmen were sentenced to death while the masterminds were barely touched by the investigation and the trial. She had said that the 18 Saudi officials were present in their consulate in Istanbul for more than 10 days and cleaned up the crime scene.

Turkey claims that the killing of Khashoggi was ordered by Saudi deputy intelligence chief Ahmed al-Assiri and the royal court's media czar Saud al-Qahtani. The trial in absentia of 20 Saudi officials started on July 3 where Khashoggi’s fiancee Hatice Cengiz also appeared in the court to testify, hoping that the trial will reveal the truth behind Jamal’s body and killers involved in it.

'Wake-up call'

Ahead of the trial, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Secretary-General Christophe Deloire said in a statement that Khashoggi’s assassination remains one of the most horrific crimes against a journalist they have ever seen. He expressed shock that very little has been done to secure justice or hold the Saudi government accountable after nearly two years of the killing.

“We hope the Istanbul proceedings will open not only a new route to justice, but will serve as a wake-up call to the international community on the urgent need to end impunity for Khashoggi’s murder and ensure better protections for journalists everywhere,” added Deloire.

Read: Jamal Khashoggi's Sons Forgive Saudi Killers, Sparing 5 Execution

(With agency inputs | Image: AP)