Turkey has audio and video recordings proving that journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, The Washington Post reported on Thursday.
“The recordings show that a Saudi security team detained Khashoggi in the consulate after he walked in Oct. 2 to obtain an official document before his upcoming wedding, then killed him and dismembered his body,” The Washington Post said.
Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist, has not been heard from since Oct. 2 when he visited the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, amid speculation he was killed by Saudi authorities.
“You can hear his voice and the voices of men speaking Arabic,” this person said. “You can hear how he was interrogated, tortured and then murdered.
Turkish officials have divulged the contents of the recordings to U.S. officials, according to The Washington Post.
On the same day Khashoggi went missing, 15 Saudis, including several officials, arrived in Istanbul on two planes and visited the consulate while he was also inside, police sources said. All of the identified individuals have since left Turkey.
U.S. President Donald Trump expressed concern on Tuesday over Khashoggi’s disappearance.
“I am concerned about it. I don’t like hearing about it. Hopefully that will sort itself out. Right now nobody knows anything about it. But there’s some pretty bad stories going around. I do not like it,” Trump told reporters on the White House lawn as he was returning from a trip by helicopter to Orlando, Florida.
Saudi authorities have yet to give a clear explanation of Khashoggi’s fate, while several countries -- particularly Turkey, the U.S. and the UK -- have expressed their desire that the matter should be elucidated as soon as possible.
