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The UN report on Khashoggi's murder is really chilling. Combined with prior reporting, it shows state-coordinated premeditation, intent to kill and cover up. A thread on the chronology - and a helpful video reconstruct - are below
First, let's go back to 2011. Maher Mutreb is one of several Saudi intel officers who was trained on using spyware on phones and computers. Mutreb would become a central figure in Khashoggi's killing. https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/1052462297245933568?lang=en
By the summer of 2018, the phones of Saudi political dissidents living in exile were being monitored, @Amnesty and @CitizenLab reported. One activist, Omar Abdulaziz, was in phone contact with Khashoggi https://citizenlab.ca/2018/10/the-kingdom-came-to-canada-how-saudi-linked-digital-espionage-reached-canadian-soil/
In one of their frequent chats, Khashoggi, speaking of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, said: "Tyranny has no logic, but he loves force, oppression and needs to show them off. He is like a beast ‘pac man’ - the more victims he eats, the more he wants" https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/02/middleeast/jamal-khashoggi-whatsapp-messages-intl/index.html
Sept. 2017, the month Khashoggi begins writing @washingtonpost Op Eds, he's bright on Bin Salman's radar. MBS tells an aide he'll go after Jamal “with a bullet” if he doesn't return to Saudi from self-imposed exile. @markmazzettinyt story. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/07/us/politics/khashoggi-mohammed-bin-salman.html
Aug-Sept. 2018, two months before he's killed: Khashoggi enquires at the Saudi embassy in Washington about paperwork to marry his fiancee Hatice Cengiz in Turkey. He's referred to the consulate in Istanbul.
27 Sept. 2018, five days before Khashoggi is killed: a Saudi security team sweeps the Consulate in Istanbul for bugs and other surveillance equipment, the Chief of Turkish Intelligence told the UN Rapporteur.
The following morning, 28 Sept: Khashoggi & Cengiz are told at a marriage office (below, via A Haber) that Saudi certificate is "absolutely necessary" in order to marry. He arrives unannounced at the Consulate to request papers. Is told to return the following Tuesday, Oct. 2.
At 14:22 & 14:27, a Saudi security attaché at the Consulate notifies Maher Mutreb by phone that Khashoggi had visited. Mutreb says he passed the info to “the communications office” and asks is Khashoggi returning. "Yes, we were all shocked," the attaché says. "We just spoke."
By 8 p.m. an urgent "special and a top secret mission" is being coordinated in Riyadh. The "head of state security" requests “reliable and nationalistic” personnel from Istanbul for the four-five day mission.
Sept. 29: Two consular staff fly to Riyadh.
Sept. 29: Two consular staff fly to Riyadh.
Oct. 1: A consular attaché in Turkey drives a diplomatic car to the Belgrad Forest, 20km from Istanbul. The car is photo'd entering the forest here.
Another attaché asks the owner of a country farmhouse how long the drive is, if anyone is there. "Just a caretaker.” “Very nice.”
Another attaché asks the owner of a country farmhouse how long the drive is, if anyone is there. "Just a caretaker.” “Very nice.”
Oct. 1: The attachés return from Riyadh with a team of 3 Saudi officials. A taped conversation in the Consulate that evening: “A commission is coming from Saudi Arabia tomorrow; they have something to do in the Consulate. They will have something to do on my floor in the office.”
Two of the first team are Saudi officials who worked in the Office of the Crown Prince. The third is a Saudi intelligence officer. This is consistent with reporting we and other outlets had on the men.
Oct 1. Private plane HZ-SK2, regularly used by the Saudi gov., is chartered. A flight plan is logged, cancelled and re-logged within the hour, this time with diplomatic clearance. Overnight, it carries a second team of 9 Saudi officials.
This is the second kill team. Aboard is Maher Mutreb and another key figure - Salah al-Tubaigy, a forensic pathologist who once designed a mobile lab he bragged could carry out autopsies in minutes ( https://aawsat.com/home/article/196211).
Also aboard are more Saudi intelligence officials and members of the Saudi Royal Guard, some directly known by the Crown Prince. Indeed, a trusted team of "reliable and nationalistic" men. They stay at two hotels near the Consulate.
Oct. 2 13:02. Taped at Consulate, 12 min before Khashoggi enters
Mutreb: "Possible to put the trunk in a bag?"
Tubaigy: "No. Too heavy." But should "be easy. Joints will be separated... If we take plastic bags and cut it into pieces"
Mutreb: Has "the sacrificial animal” arrived?
Mutreb: "Possible to put the trunk in a bag?"
Tubaigy: "No. Too heavy." But should "be easy. Joints will be separated... If we take plastic bags and cut it into pieces"
Mutreb: Has "the sacrificial animal” arrived?
13:14: Khashoggi arrives, leaves Cengiz by gates, enters. Officials try to strong arm him to return to Saudi. "Interpol requested you to be sent back. We are coming to get you.” Khashoggi rejected the claim and warned people were waiting for him outside.
Mutreb: “Send a message to your son.”
Khashoggi: “I will not.”
13:33 K: "There is a towel here. Are you going to give me drugs?” “We will anesthetize you.”
A struggle, then: “Did he sleep?” “He raises his head.” “Keep pushing.” “Push here; don’t remove your hand; push it.”
Khashoggi: “I will not.”
13:33 K: "There is a towel here. Are you going to give me drugs?” “We will anesthetize you.”
A struggle, then: “Did he sleep?” “He raises his head.” “Keep pushing.” “Push here; don’t remove your hand; push it.”
The sound of plastic wrapping is heard in the recordings
15:00: A van leaves the sheltered side entrance to the Consulate and drives to the consul general's house nearby.
A man is pictured carrying black bags into the residence: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/31/world/middleeast/khashoggi-video-turkey.html
15:00: A van leaves the sheltered side entrance to the Consulate and drives to the consul general's house nearby.
A man is pictured carrying black bags into the residence: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/31/world/middleeast/khashoggi-video-turkey.html
On the Saudi "accidental death" theory, the report notes "no expressions of surprise or shock at his death" among officials present, and that "no sounds or words that suggested an attempt to resuscitate" Khashoggi.
15:53, coverup continues. Another official Mustafa Almadani leaves the Consulate wearing Khashoggi's clothes and a fake beard. Over a week after his disappearance, Saudi officials maintained that CCTV showed him leaving the building safely.
Oct 2. evening: Teams leave Istanbul.
Oct 3.: Consulate staff are blocked from the 2nd floor.
11:00: Consulate is cleaned
16:00 - 21:00: A fire in a barrel in the Consulate's backyard is observed.
Oct. 4, 09:35: Consular staff burn papers in the barrel
Oct 3.: Consulate staff are blocked from the 2nd floor.
11:00: Consulate is cleaned
16:00 - 21:00: A fire in a barrel in the Consulate's backyard is observed.
Oct. 4, 09:35: Consular staff burn papers in the barrel
Oct 6: 10 Saudi state police arrive and go to Consulate.
Oct 11: Five more arrive, including toxicology expert and 3 Mabahith “Technical Team” members (pic'd)
Oct 12: The trio enter the Consulate, stay all day and night, return on Oct 13 and stay all night Oct 14. #CleanUp
Oct 11: Five more arrive, including toxicology expert and 3 Mabahith “Technical Team” members (pic'd)
Oct 12: The trio enter the Consulate, stay all day and night, return on Oct 13 and stay all night Oct 14. #CleanUp
Days before Khashoggi's killing, two of those men were photographed at a state reception with Salah Tubaigy, the forensic pathologist, as uncovered by @iyad_elbaghdadi
Oct 15 07:30: A commercial cleaning crew arrives.
Later, Turkish officials finally get access. UV light & luminol liquid tests detect “a path in which drops follow each other within certain distances and generate an irregular curved line” in the room beside the Consul's office
Later, Turkish officials finally get access. UV light & luminol liquid tests detect “a path in which drops follow each other within certain distances and generate an irregular curved line” in the room beside the Consul's office
Jamal's Khashoggi's remains have yet to be found. The trial of 11 Saudis in connection with the killing is opaque and lacks credibility the UN Rapporteur said. Latest from @ddknyt and @nickcbruce https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/19/world/middleeast/jamal-khashoggi-Mohammed-bin-Salman.html
Writing today, @mercan_resifi, the fiancé Mr. Khashoggi, a Virginia resident, said "Washington hasn’t done enough to bring Jamal’s killers to justice." https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/19/opinion/jamal-khashoggi-murder-saudia-arabia-trump.html
Further research on Khashoggi (thread
). Saudi political activist @oamaz7, whose phone was among those hacked, was also encouraged to visit a Saudi embassy around the same time Khashoggi was, he told @InigoGilmore in this @journeymanvod short doc
). Saudi political activist @oamaz7, whose phone was among those hacked, was also encouraged to visit a Saudi embassy around the same time Khashoggi was, he told @InigoGilmore in this @journeymanvod short doc
Finally watched this thoroughly detailed and gripping documentary on the rise of Saudi Crown Prince MBS and Jamal Khashoggi’s murder, by @martin28smith and @frontlinepbs. Recommended viewing
Saudi sentences eight men who carried out Khashoggi murder. Despite "vast evidence of premeditation" the trial shielded Crown Prince Mohammed and top aides "who foreign analysts say were probably behind the murder." By @NYTBen https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/23/world/middleeast/jamal-khashoggi-murder-sentence.html
Khashoggi murder trial begins in Turkey, incl. incitement to murder charges against close MBS aides Ahmed al-Asiri, the former deputy head of Saudi general intelligence, and Saud al-Qahtani. Hopefully we’ll learn more on the audio tapes and JK’s phone https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/03/world/europe/turkey-jamal-khashoggi-trial.html?referringSource=articleShare
