Published 20:42 IST, March 31st 2019
Jamal Khashoggi's murderers received training in United States, used electric saw to dismember him; report reveals
While Jamal Khashoggi's case has not found its closure, Washington Post reported that the Kingdom hit team that murdered the Saudi Arabian journalist in Istanbul were trained in the United States.
While Jamal Khashoggi's case has not found its closure, Washington Post reported that the Kingdom hit team that murdered the Saudi Arabian journalist in Istanbul were trained in the United States.
The critic of the Saudi regime according to reports was dismembered and his body was chopped off using an electric saw on October 2, 2018 by a hit team of 15 agents of the Kingdom.
His body was never found.
Saudi Arabian regime has maintained their innocence, despite the CIA report that concluded that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had ordered the killing of the Washington Post journalist.
According to the Washington Post report, where American and Saudi sources were interviewed on the condition of anonymity said that members of the Saudi Rapid Intervention Group were trained in the United States by Tier I Group, a privately owned company under the State Department license.
Saudi authorities in a secret trial charged 11 suspects over his murder, out of which five could face death penalty, however all the suspects remain unnamed.
However the United Nations has called for an open investigation citing that the secret investigation by Saudi authorities are deficient of international standards. UN further added that the trial should be opened to the UN authories, global activists and the media.
Back in December last year, Turkey swore to dig up the truth behind Jamal Khashoggi's murder, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan upon hearing the recordings of the murder divulged the dirty details of the barbaric murder.
According to the Turkey media, the Turkish President in a speech at the Jerusalem Platform event in Istanbul on December 14 told the audiencethe recordings said:
"It is a disaster because this man (Khashoggi) has been drugged," said the Saudi Intelligence Chief.
"I know how to cut well," the other man responded.
A buzzing noise was recounted in the transcript, which could possibly signify the electric saw being used. It further narrated the last words of Khashoggi after he was suffocated with a bag, he said, "I can't breathe, I have asthma, don't do this."
Despite the global outrage, Trump administration has refused to respond to Congress' response of providing the report of Khashoggi's murder. Moreover United States continues to maintain its intimacy with the Kingdom that has been accused for gruesome Human Rights violations.
It was also known that, the Saudi Crown Prince authorised a "secret campaign" to silence dissenters more than a year before the killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the New York Times reported on Sunday, March 17.
Officials said that the members of the group, who were a part of what they called the "Saudi Rapid Intervention Group", were involved in at least a dozen operations starting in 2017, according to New York Times. The campaign included surveillance, kidnapping, detention, and torture of Saudi citizens, according to American officials with knowledge of classified reports.
Jamal Khashoggi was killed inside a Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018 where he went to acquire necessary documents to re-marry his fiance.
(With PTI inputs)
Updated 14:26 IST, April 1st 2019