A year to the dayThe infamous murder of Jamal Khashoggi
The chilling details of Jamal Khashoggi's murder — and the incrimination of individuals close to Saudi royalty — still taint the image of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) as a moderniser and poison the Arab kingdom's relations with Western allies.
While MbS was quoted by U.S. broadcaster CBS as accepting "full responsibility" for the crime on Sunday, he has denied ordering the killing, described as a "rogue" operation by Saudi officials. UN investigators maintain the murder was "planned and perpetrated by officials of the state of Saudi Arabia".
Investigations by the CIA and UN claim a squad of 15 Saudis with diplomatic status, including a forensic expert carrying a bone saw, flew to Istanbul to intercept Khashoggi as he entered the Saudi consulate to arrange marriage papers.
Turkish transcripts of audio recordings, seen but not authenticated by the UN investigation, suggested Khashoggi had been injected with a sedative, suffocated and dismembered. His body has not been found and investigators say the scene was forensically cleaned before the Turks were given access.
U.S. senators briefed by the CIA pointed to a series of phone calls between MbS, his close aide Saud al-Qahtani and a member of the squad, which implicate the crown prince. UN rapporteur Agnes Callamard said the evidence of state organisation of the crime demanded a criminal investigation which included MbS.
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Closed trial for the perpetrators in Saudi Arabia
The process inside Saudi Arabia to convict those involved has attracted heavy criticism.
Saudi prosecutors have 11 suspects in a closed trial, with five of those facing the death penalty, but key figures such as al-Qahtani have been shielded from the process, which does not meet international standards, Callamard asserted.
Jamal Khashoggi: A mysterious disappearance and death
Vanishes into thin air: 2 October – Prominent journalist Jamal Khashoggi was last seen entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, where he had gone to obtain an official document for his upcoming marriage to his Turkish fiancee, Hatice Cengiz. He never emerged from the building, prompting Cengiz, who waited outside, to raise the alarm
Vanishes into thin air: 2 October – Prominent journalist Jamal Khashoggi was last seen entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, where he had gone to obtain an official document for his upcoming marriage to his Turkish fiancee, Hatice Cengiz. He never emerged from the building, prompting Cengiz, who waited outside, to raise the alarm
Murder claims: 6 October – Turkish officials said they believed the journalist was likely killed inside the Saudi consulate. The Washington Post, for which Khashoggi wrote, cited unnamed sources to report that Turkish investigators believe a 15-member team "came from Saudi Arabia" to kill the man
Ankara seeks proof: 8 October – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on Saudi Arabia to prove that Khashoggi left its consulate in Istanbul. Turkey also sought permission to search the mission premises. U.S. President Donald Trump voiced concern about the journalist's disappearance
Ankara seeks proof: 8 October – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on Saudi Arabia to prove that Khashoggi left its consulate in Istanbul. Turkey also sought permission to search the mission premises. U.S. President Donald Trump voiced concern about the journalist's disappearance
Search operation: 15 October – Turkish investigators searched the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. The search lasted more than eight hours and investigators removed samples from the building, including soil from the consulate garden and a metal door, one official said
Death after fistfight: 19 October – Saudi Arabia finally admitted that Khashoggi died at the consulate. The kingdom's public prosecutor said preliminary investigations showed the journalist was killed in a "fistfight". He added that 18 people had been detained. A Saudi Foreign Ministry official said the country is "investigating the regrettable and painful incident"
'Grave mistake': 21 October – Saudi Arabia provided yet another account of what happened to Khashoggi. The kingdom's foreign minister admitted the journalist was killed in a "rogue operation", calling it a "huge and grave mistake", but insisted that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had not been aware of the murder. Riyadh said it had no idea where Khashoggi's body was
Germany halts arms sales: 21 October – German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Germany would put arms exports to Saudi Arabia on hold for the time being, given the unexplained circumstances of Khashoggi's death. Germany is the fourth largest exporter of weapons to Saudi Arabia after the United States, Britain and France
Strangled to death, dissolved in acid: 31 October – The Turkish prosecutor concluded that Khashoggi was strangled to death soon after entering the consulate, and was then dismembered. Another Turkish official later claimed the body was dissolved in acid. Turkish President Erdogan said the order to murder the journalist came from "the highest levels" of Saudi Arabia's government
Grilled at the UN: 5 November – Saudi Arabia told the United Nations it would prosecute those responsible for Khashoggi's murder. This came as the United States and dozens of other countries raised the journalist's death before the UN Human Rights Council and called for a transparent investigation
Fiancee in mourning: 8 November – Khashoggi's fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, wrote on Twitter that she was "unable to express her sorrow" upon learning that the journalist's body was dissolved with chemicals. "Are these killers and those behind it human beings?" she tweeted
Turkey shares audio recordings: 10 November – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reveals that officials from Saudi Arabia, the U.S., Germany, France and Britain have listened to audio recordings related to the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul
Symbolic funeral prayers: 16 November – A symbolic funeral prayer for Khashoggi is held in the courtyard of the Fatih Mosque in Istanbul. Yasin Aktay, advisor to President Erdogan, speaks at the service
Saudi-owned villas searched: 26 November – Turkish forensic police bring the investigation to the Turkish province of Yalova, where sniffer dogs and drones search two Saudi-owned villas in the village Samanli
100 days since killing: 10 January – Amnesty International Turkey members demonstrate outside the Saudi Arabia Consulate in Istanbul, marking 100 day since the killing of Jamal Khashoggi. One woman holds up a street sign which reads "Jamal Khashoggi Street". The organisation has called for an international investigation into the case
Saudi murder trial begins: 3 January – The Khashoggi trial begins in Saudi Arabia, where state prosecutors say they will seek the death sentence for five of the eleven suspects. A request for the gathered evidence has been send to Turkish authorities. A date for the second hearing has not yet been set
UN inquiry team in Turkey: 28 January – Agnes Callamard, who is leading the UN probe into the handling of the Khashoggi case, arrives in Ankara where she meets with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu. The human rights expect will stay in the country for the rest of the week to speak with prosecutors and others involved in the case. Author: Ashutosh Pandey
"It's held behind closed doors. The masterminds are not included in the trial. It's not known why those 11 persons have been charged and no others, considering that there were 15 people in the kill team plus their accomplice in Riyadh," Callamard said. "The trial does not include Saud al-Qahtani, even though the prosecutor himself had identified him in a public statement as a person who had incited the team to abduct Mr. Khashoggi."
Saudi prosecutors have said al-Qahtani's right-hand man Ahmed al-Asiri oversaw the operation to repatriate but not kill Khashoggi, but al-Qahtani himself has quietly disappeared since King Salman sacked him over the affair.
Turkish and Arab sources quoted by the Reuters news agency said al-Qahtani had been beamed into the Saudi consulate via Skype during the killing and had hurled insults at Khashoggi.
Yasmine Farouk, a Gulf expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said that sacrificing their intelligence staff for carrying out their alleged orders puts the Saudi leadership in a difficult position. "If they hold their own people responsible for the death of Khashoggi, and it was someone from the palace that ordered it … it might have implications for their credibility inside their system," Farouk said.
