Turkish government sources have said police believe the journalist was killed by a special team of 15 Saudi officials sent to Istanbul especially for the task
A man who previously travelled with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s entourage to the United States entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul just before writer Jamal Khashoggi vanished there, according to images published Thursday by a pro-government Turkish newspaper.
The Sabah newspaper’s report showed the man also later outside the Saudi consul general’s home, checking out of a Turkish hotel as a large suitcase stood by his side, and leaving Turkey on October 2.
The report came as Turkish crime-scene investigators finished an overnight search of both the consul general’s residence and a second search of the consulate itself amid Ankara’s fears that Saudi authorities had Khashoggi killed and dismembered inside the diplomatic mission in Istanbul.
Saudi Arabia has called the allegations “baseless”.
The Sabah report showed the man walking past police barricades at the consulate at 9:55am with several men trailing behind him.
Khashoggi arrived at the consulate several hours later at 1:14pm, then disappeared while his fiancée waited outside for him.
A report Wednesday by the pro-government newspaper Yeni Safak, citing what it described as an audio recording of Khashoggi’s slaying, said a Saudi team immediately accosted the 60-year-old journalist after he entered the consulate, cutting off his fingers and later decapitating him.
Previously leaked surveillance footage showed consular vehicles moving from the consulate to the consul general’s official residence, some 2km (1.2 miles) away, a little under two hours after Khashoggi walked inside.
The Sabah newspaper showed an image of the man at 4:53pm at the consul’s home, then at 5:15pm checking out of a hotel. He later cleared airport security at 5:58pm.
Security services in Turkey have used pro-government media to leak details of Khashoggi’s case, adding to the pressure on the kingdom.
The AP could not immediately verify the man’s identity.
However he bears a striking resemblance to Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb, an individual previously identified by Turkish authorities as being involved in the 15-man Saudi team that targeted Khashoggi.
The New York Times said Mutreb was a diplomat assigned to the Saudi embassy in London in 2007, citing a British diplomatic roster.
Mutreb, perhaps a bodyguard, has been photographed emerging from planes with Prince Mohammed on recent trips to Madrid and Paris, the newspaper reported.
It added that Mutreb was also photographed standing guard during Prince Mohammed’s visits in the United States to Houston, Boston and the United Nations.
Images shot by the Houston Chronicle show him in Prince Mohammed’s entourage when he visited a Houston subdivision in April to see rebuilding efforts after Hurricane Harvey.
The same man wore lapel pins, including one of the flags of Saudi Arabia and America intertwined, that other bodyguards accompanying Prince Mohammed wore on the trip.
The three-week trip across the US saw Prince Mohammed meet with business leaders and celebrities, including Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos, who now owns The Washington Post .
The searches and the leaks in Turkish media have ensured the world’s attention remains focused on what happened to Khashoggi, a Post columnist who went into a self-imposed exile in the United States over the rise of Prince Mohammed.
It also put further strains on the relationship between the kingdom, the world’s largest oil exporter, and its main security guarantor, the US, as tensions with Iran and elsewhere in the Middle East remain high.
Flying back home after a visit to both Saudi Arabia and Turkey, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo remained positive Wednesday about an ongoing Saudi probe into Khashoggi’s disappearance, but he stressed that answers are needed.
“Sooner’s better than later for everyone,” Pompeo said.
US President Donald Trump, who initially came out hard on the Saudis over the disappearance but since has backed off, said Wednesday that the US wanted Turkey to turn over any audio or video recording it had of Khashoggi’s alleged killing “if it exists”.
Meanwhile, France’s finance minister became the latest high-level official or executive to cancelled his attendance at an upcoming investment conference in Saudi Arabia amid doubts over the disappearance of Khashoggi.
Bruno Le Maire said Thursday on French television channel Public Senat that “I will not go to Riyadh next week” for the conference, known as “Davos in the Desert”.
Several top business executives have cancelled their attendance, as has the head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde.
Le Maire said the facts related to the disappearance of Khashoggi are “serious” and need to be explained by Saudi authorities.
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has said he will decide on Thursday whether to attend.
