Before killing Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi operatives made "chilling" jokes: Report
Exactly a year ago, journalist Jamal Khashoggi entered Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul to collect documents needed to marry his fiancee. He didn't come out alive. The cold-blooded murder of the dissident journalist once again proved that those in power are capable of doing anything they want to. And now, a fresh report has suggested that Khashoggi's killers cracked jokes before committing the crime.
He was let down by his native country (Saudi), the nation where he was murdered (Turkey), and the United States, which gave him employment (Khashoggi was a journalist of Washington Post). When no one showed interest in investigating his murder, the United Nations launched a probe. The UN investigators heard secret tapes recorded inside the consulate and learned about the "jokes".
According to Helena Kennedy, a British lawyer assisting the UN probe, the Saudi operatives referred to Khashoggi as "sacrificial animal". "There was a discussion about 'will the body and the hips fit into a bag this way'?" she said in a BBC documentary which aired on Monday. A forensic pathologist reportedly dismembered Khashoggi's body and his words were recorded by Turkish bugs.
"I often play music when I'm cutting cadavers. Sometimes I have a coffee and a cigar at hand. It's the first time in my life that I've had to cut pieces on the ground," the pathologist reportedly said according to Kennedy.
Turkey had handed over 45 minutes of recordings. "There's a point where you can hear Khashoggi moving from a man who is being a confident person, towards a sense of fear, a sense of rising anxiety, rising terror and then knowing something fatal is going to happen," Kennedy said. Apparently, Khashoggi asked them if they would give him an injection, and they replied "yes".
Further, Kennedy said the recordings hinted that Khashoggi was suffocated. The killers, probably, used a plastic bag. "He's a dog, put this on his head, wrap it, wrap it," someone said in the recording. About this, Kennedy said, "One can only assume that they had removed his head." Notably, the tapes were also heard by UN special rapporteur Agnes Callamard.
Khashoggi's murder got Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, criticism. MbS, who has been working hard to portray himself as a "modernizer", was accused of green-lighting the murder of the dissident journalist. In fact, MbS said he takes responsibility for it, since the killing happened under his watch but claimed he wasn't aware. But Callamard had said it's highly improbable.
