Jamal Khashoggi disappeared after going to the consulate to obtain papers for his marriage in October 2018.
Istanbul:
A Saudi consulate in Istanbul staff told a Turkish court on Friday that he was asked to light a tandoor oven less than an hour after Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi entered the building where he was killed.
Zeki Demir, a local technician who worked for the consulate, testified on the first day of the trial in absentia of 20 Saudi officials over the murder of Khashoggi, which sparked worldwide outrage and tarnished the image of the de facto leader of the Saudi Arabia.
Demir said he was called to the consul’s residence after Khashoggi entered the nearby consulate to look for his papers.
“There were five to six people there … They asked me to turn on the tandoor (oven). There was an air of panic,” he said.
Khashoggi disappeared after going to the consulate to obtain papers for his marriage in October 2018. Some western governments, as well as the CIA, have said they believe Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the coup – a charge dismissed by Saudi officials.
Turkish authorities have said that the police have advanced a theory that Khashoggi’s killers attempted to throw his body by burning it after he smothered it and cut his body.
The indictment accuses two senior Saudi officials, former Saudi Deputy General Intelligence Chief Ahmed al-Asiri and former royal court adviser Saud al-Qahtani, of inciting “premeditated murder with a monstrous intention “.
He said 18 other defendants were flown to Turkey to kill Khashoggi, a prominent and well-connected journalist who had become increasingly critical of the crown prince.
The defendants are on trial in absentia and will likely never be released by Saudi Arabia, which accused Turkey of not cooperating in a separate, largely secret trial in Riyadh last year.
In December a Saudi court sentenced five people and three to prison for the murder, but Khashoggi’s family later declared that he had forgiven his killers, effectively granting them a formal stay under Saudi law.
A Saudi prosecutor said at the time that there was no evidence linking Qahtani to the murder and dismissed the charges against Asiri.
BASIS FOR NEW TESTS?
According to his testimony in the indictment, Demir reported seeing numerous skewers of meat and a small barbecue in addition to the oven in the consul’s garden. The marble slabs around the oven appeared to have changed color as if they had been cleaned with a chemical, according to the indictment.
Separate testimony from the witness in the indictment, from the consul’s driver, stated that the consul had ordered the purchase of raw skewers at a local restaurant.
Demir offered help for the garage door when a car with dark windows arrived, but was told to leave the garden quickly, according to the indictment.
Human rights activists hope that the Istanbul trial will shed new light on the case and strengthen the case for sanctions against Riyadh or legal action against suspects on their way to the stranger.
“If the process works, what this trial … will strengthen is the possibility of universal jurisdiction,” Agnes Callamard, United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings, told Reuters on the eve of the trial.
This could give European countries, for example, the basis for launching a lawsuit if Saudis linked to the case go to their territory, she said.
“Justice in these complex environments is not done overnight … but a good process here can build (evidence of) what can happen in five years, in 10 years, whenever the circumstances are better strong, “said Callamard.
Khashoggi’s fiancée Hatice Cengiz, who had waited unknowingly in front of the consulate during her death, said she would continue to seek justice “not only in Turkey but wherever possible”.
(With the exception of the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
