‘Credible evidence’ to warrant probe into Khashoggi’s murder

By JAMEY KEATEN and AYA BATRAWY

Associated Press

More than eight months after Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s death, a U.N. special rapporteur revealed new details of the slaying – part of a report that insisted there was “credible evidence” to warrant further investigation and financial sanctions against Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The report brought the case back into the spotlight just as the prince and his country appeared to be emerging from the scandal.

The details of the Oct. 2 killing were so chilling, and now so public, that it’s hard to fathom that there won’t be repercussions.

On the recording, apparently picked up by Turkish listening devices, intelligence officer Maher Mutreb is heard asking whether “the sacrificial animal” had entered the consulate, and a voice responds: “He has arrived.”

Within minutes, the official loses patience and, the rapporteur said, apparently pulls out a syringe.

Then came the sounds of struggle, “movement and heavy panting,” and finally – according to Turkish intelligence relayed in the report – the sounds of a saw.

He is believed to have been dismembered inside the consulate. His remains have never been found.

The nearly minute-by-minute narrative is part of a 101-page report from the U.N. special rapporteur for extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary executions.

The Saudi minister of state for foreign affairs, Adel al-Jubeir, dismissed the report, saying that it contained “nothing new” and was riddled with baseless allegations.