Still Missing Turkey - Jamal Khashoggi, 59, Washington Post columnist, Istanbul, 3 Oct 2018

[JudgeJudi]

Adam Schiff, a Democratic senator who is set to lead the House intelligence committee, accused President Trump of not telling the truth in his response to JK’s murder. Trump said that a CIA report lacks evidence to blame the Crown Prince for the killing. Schiff said, "I think the president is being dishonest with the American people. It telegraphs to despots around the world they can murder with impunity and that this president will have their back as long as they praise them or do business with him."

Schiff’s comments were echoed by Mike Lee, a senator from Trump's Republican party, who called on Congress to take action. Lee said, "I disagree with the president’s assessment. It’s inconsistent with the intelligence I’ve seen".

Jamal Khashoggi case: All the latest updates

 

[JerseyGirl]

Investigators search for Saudi journalist's remains

 

[dotr]

Nov 29 2018
Canada imposes sanctions on 17 Saudi nationals linked to Khashoggi murder - CityNews Toronto
"Canada is imposing sanctions on 17 Saudi Arabian nationals linked to the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland announced the move at a G20 summit in Buenos Aires, adding that the decision doesn’t mean that the federal government believes the issue is now closed.

The sanctions freeze any assets the targets might have in Canada and says they cannot enter the country. The United States has already done something similar.

Freeland says the sanctions are designed to target individuals who are, in the opinion of the government, responsible for or complicit in the writer’s “truly vile murder” in October."

 

[tmar]

‘We don’t want him here’: Saudi crown prince is a protected pariah at G-20 summit

Anthony Faiola, Anne Gearan
8 hrs ago
....
But a newer rallying cry also appeared on a smattering of homemade posters.

“Mohammed bin Salman, Assassin!”

For Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Group of 20 leaders summit in Buenos Aires has amounted to a key test: his first appearance at a major international event since the killing of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi who was a frequent critic of the kingdom’s de facto leader.

“The CIA thinks he is the one who ordered the kill on Khashoggi,” said Cristian Pirovano, a 40-year old teacher from Buenos Aires, referring to U.S. intelligence assessments that the crown prince almost certainly orchestrated the assassination of Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributing columnist, at his country’s consulate in Turkey.
“We don’t want him here, because of the assassination of the journalist, because of what the Saudis are doing in Yemen, because of all this death,” Pirovano said.

 

[JudgeJudi]

In his public writings, JK’s criticism of Saudi Arabia and its Crown Prince was measured. In private, he didn't hold back.

In more than 400 WhatsApp messages sent to Omar Abdulaziz, a fellow Saudi exile, in the year before he was killed, he describes the Crown Prince -- often referred to as MBS -- as a "beast," a "pac-man" who would devour all in his path, even his supporters. The messages shared by Abdulaziz, which include voice recordings, photos and videos, paint a picture of a man deeply troubled by what he regarded as the petulance of his kingdom's powerful young prince.

The exchanges reveal a progression from talk to action -- the pair had begun planning an online youth movement that would hold the Saudi state to account. Abdulaziz said, "[Jamal] believed that MBS is the issue, is the problem and he said this kid should be stopped".

But in August, he believed their conversations may have been intercepted by Saudi authorities. "God help us," he wrote. Two months later he was dead.

Jamal Khashoggi: private WhatsApp messages may offer new clues to his murder - CNN

 

[JudgeJudi]

Omar Abdulaziz has filed a lawsuit against an Israeli software company, NSO Group, known for building state of the art spy tech which it sells to governments. According to the lawsuit, Israel-based NSO Group sold spyware to the Saudi government which was then used to spy on mobile communications between Abdulaziz and JK. Abdulaziz said the phone’s hacking “played a major role in what happened to Jamal”.

Jamal Khashoggi case: All the latest updates

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

Report: CIA boss to brief senators on Khashoggi death

Washington – CIA Director Gina Haspel is expected to brief Senate leaders on the slaying of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi as senators weigh their next steps in possibly punishing the longtime Middle East ally over the killing.

The CIA director is set Tuesday to meet Republican and Democratic Senate leaders, as well as the chairmen and ranking senators on the key national security committees. The visit was confirmed by a person familiar with the plans who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private session...

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

Graham: 'Smoking saw' ties Saudi crown prince to Khashoggi killing

Top senators expressed conviction that Mohammed bin Salman is to blame for Khashoggi's death after an intelligence briefing by CIA director Gina Haspel.

WASHINGTON — Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said on Tuesday that the evidence connecting Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to the brutal killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi was so strong, it amounted to "a smoking saw."

“There’s not a smoking gun — there’s a smoking saw," Graham said after leaving an intelligence briefing by CIA director Gina Haspel for a small group of senators. "You have to be willfully blind not to come to the conclusion that this was orchestrated and organized by people under the command of MBS and that he was intricately involved in the demise of Mr. Khashoggi."...

 

[EuTuCroquet?]

'Killed for speaking the truth': nine journalists murdered in 2018

Over 30 journalists – including Jamal Khashoggi – have been murdered so far this year. With the help of colleagues and relatives, or in their own words and pictures, we pay tribute to some of them here.

by Aamna Mohdin and Bibi van der Zee

​

 

[JudgeJudi]

Sen. Lindsey Graham said in a statement, "This resolution - without equivocation - definitively states that the crown prince of Saudi Arabia was complicit in the murder of Mr Khashoggi and has been a wrecking ball to the region jeopardising our national security interests on multiple fronts."

He took aim at the White House's insistence that U.S. intelligence agencies had no direct evidence linking the murder to SA’s powerful crown prince aka MBS, even though it was carried out by members of his inner circle. "You have to be willfully blind not to come to the conclusion that this was orchestrated and organized by people under the command of MBS."

Sen. Bob Corker told reporters there was "zero question in my mind" that MBS was behind the killing. "If he was in front of a jury, he would be convicted in 30 minutes, guilty."

Jamal Khashoggi and the slow-motion disaster of Trump's strategy - CNNPolitics

 

[JerseyGirl]

Turkey Issues Arrest Warrants for Former Aides to Saudi Crown Prince

 

[MsFacetious]

'I can't breathe.' Jamal Khashoggi's last words disclosed in transcript, source says

Jamal Khashoggi's last words disclosed in transcript, source says - CNN

 

[JudgeJudi]

"I can't breathe. I can’t breathe". These were the final words uttered by JK after he was set upon by a Saudi hit squad at its consulate in Istanbul, according to a source briefed on the investigation into the killing.

The source said the transcript of an audio recording of Khashoggi's painful last moments made clear that the killing was no botched rendition attempt, but the execution of a premeditated plan to murder him.

The transcript notes the sounds of Khashoggi's body being dismembered by a saw, as the alleged perpetrators are advised to listen to music to block out the sound.

The transcript suggests that a series of phone calls are made, briefing them on progress. Turkish officials believe the calls were made to senior figures in Riyadh.

Further details are in the video.

Jamal Khashoggi: last words disclosed in transcript, source says - CNN

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

Time's 2018 "Person of the Year" is killed and imprisoned journalists

Jamal Khashoggi

Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi journalist, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on May 2, 2012.Ali Haider / EPA-EFE file
The Washington Post columnist and United States resident penned columns critical of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — and was brutally killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, in October. The CIA has concluded with “high confidence” that bin Salman ordered his murder, although President Donald Trump has seemingly dismissed that assessment, saying: "It could very well be that the Crown Prince had knowledge of this tragic event — maybe he did and maybe he didn't!"

 

[dotr]

Time magazine's 2018 person of the year are 4 journalists and a newspaper

 

[cybervampira]

The Latest: Senate ends Saudi war aid, blames crown prince

Senators have voted to recommend that the U.S. end its assistance to Saudi Arabia for the war in Yemen and put the blame for the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi squarely on Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The votes are a direct challenge to both the longtime Middle East ally and President Donald Trump's handling of the relationship.

[...]

 

[tmar]

Video shows bags believed to contain Khashoggi's remains: report

2 hrs ago
Video footage leaked to Turkish media shows a Saudi hit team in Istanbul carrying bags said to contain the remains of murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

The video shows the arrival of some of the members of the team at the Saudi consul-general's residence in Istanbul on the day that Khashoggi was killed inside the Saudi consulate, several hundred metres from the residence.

One of the hit team members is seen carrying bags, which according to Turkish media, may contain body parts of the journalist, who was a critic of Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Khashoggi entered the Saudi consulate on October 2 to obtain documents certifying he divorced his ex-wife so he could remarry. He was killed and dismembered inside the consulate, in what Turkey called a "premeditated murder" orchestrated by the Saudi government.
Saudi officials have countered that claim, insisting Khashoggi was killed in a "rogue operation", after initially claiming he had left the building before vanishing.

Turkey said the killing was ordered at the highest level of Saudi leadership, implying Prince Mohammed was behind the murder. The kingdom has maintained the prince, also known as MBS, had no knowledge of the killing.

Al Jazeera's Sinem Koseoglu, reporting from Istanbul, said the video first aired on Turkish new channel A Haber, which sourced the footage through Ferhat Unlu, a journalist with the investigation unit of the Daily Sabah newspaper.

The publication is known for its close ties to Turkish intelligence and has in the past reported on a series of leaks from the Turkish investigation into the murder of Khashoggi.
The journalist recently released a co-authored book about the killing.

"The reporter said there is no evidence that the luggage carried by the hit team was taken out of the consul's residence. Therefore, we are facing new questions," Kaseoglu reported.

"The consul-general's residence was searched, but there was a well that the Saudis did not let the Turkish investigators search properly. These new pictures have changed the course of the investigation," Koseoglu added.

On Sunday evening, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu had a phone call with Saudi Arabia's former foreign minister and current state minister in charge of foreign affair, Adel al-Jubeir. It is not yet clear what was discussed in during the call.

 

[JerseyGirl]

Saudi Arabia opens Khashoggi murder trial

The trial of 11 individuals over the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi has begun in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.

Prosecutors have asked for the death penalty for five of the defendants.

Saudi Arabia has refused Turkey's request to extradite 18 suspects for trial, including 15 alleged agents who it says flew to Istanbul to carry out the killing.

No names of the defendants have been officially released. Turkey has identified 15 men it believes to be Saudi agents arriving at and departing from Istanbul's international airport around the time of the killing. But whether any of them are now on trial in Riyadh is unknown.

The remains have not yet been found.

 

[JerseyGirl]

'Not sufficient': UN on Saudi trial into Jamal Khashoggi killing

 

[JerseyGirl]

Activist group commissions 'Khashoggi Way' street signs, places them around DC