Jamal Khashoggi: All you need to know

about Saudi journalist's death

On 2 October, Jamal Khashoggi, a well-known journalist and critic of the Saudi
government, walked into the country's consulate in Istanbul, where he was
murdered.

Saudi Arabia's public prosecutor has said that Khashoggi was killed inside the building
on the orders of an intelligence officer.

Turkish officials however say they have evidence, including gruesome audio recordings,
that the journalist was killed by a team of Saudi agents on orders that came from the
highest levels.

The steady stream of disturbing allegations, along with the complex diplomatic situation,
means that it can be difficult to keep track of the full story.

So here is what we know about the case.

Who was Jamal Khashoggi?

As a prominent journalist, he covered major stories including the Soviet invasion of

Afghanistan and the rise of Osama Bin Laden for various Saudi news organisations.

For decades, he was close to the Saudi royal family and also served as an adviser to
the government.

But he fell out of favour and went into self-imposed exile in the US last year. From there,
he wrote a monthly column in the Washington Post in which he criticised the policies of
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
 Who was Jamal Khashoggi?

In his first column for the newspaper, Khashoggi said he feared being arrested in an
apparent crackdown on dissent overseen by the prince since he became first in line to
succeed his father King Salman.

"The people being arrested are not even being dissidents, they just have an
independent mind," he told the BBC's Newshour programme three days before he
disappeared.
 You can read excerpts from some of his columns here.
Why was he at the consulate?

He first visited the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on 28 September to obtain a document

certifying that he had divorced his ex-wife, so that he could marry his Turkish fiancée.

But he was told he would have to return and arranged to come back on 2 October.

"He did not believe that something bad could happen on Turkish soil," his fiancée,
Hatice Cengiz, wrote in the Washington Post.

"Jamal was hardly concerned ahead of his second visit."

 The journalist who vanished into a consulate

He was seen on CCTV arriving at 13:14 local time for his appointment, which was
scheduled for 13:30.

He reportedly told friends that he had been treated "very warmly" on his first visit and
reassured them that he would not face any problems.

Despite this, he gave Ms Cengiz two mobile phones and told her to call an adviser to
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan if he did not come back out.

She ultimately waited for more than 10 hours outside the consulate and returned the
following morning when Khashoggi had still not reappeared.

What does Saudi Arabia say?

For more than two weeks Saudi Arabia consistently denied any knowledge of
Khashoggi's fate.

Prince Mohammed told Bloomberg News that the journalist had left the consulate "after
a few minutes or one hour".

"We have nothing to hide," he added.

Prince Mohammed's brother and the Saudi ambassador to the US, Prince Khaled bin
Salman, claimed all reports about his disappearance or death were "completely false
and baseless".
 Who is Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman?
 Did Apple Watch record Khashoggi killing?
 Why Saudi Arabia matters to the West

But in the early hours of 20 October, state television reported the journalist had in fact
died in the consulate after a fight.
It later said that Khashoggi had been murdered in a "rogue operation" and vowed to
punish "those responsible".

A Saudi official told Reuters news agency at the time that Khashoggi had died in a
chokehold after resisting attempts to return him to Saudi Arabia. His body was then
rolled in a rug and given to a local "co-operator" to be disposed of. A Saudi operative
then reportedly donned his clothes and left the premises.

The authorities announced the arrest of 18 Saudi nationals and dismissal of two senior
officials - deputy intelligence chief Ahmad al-Assiri and Saud al-Qahtani, a senior aide
to Prince Mohammed.

Saudi King Salman also ordered the formation of a ministerial committee, headed by the
crown prince, to restructure the intelligence services in the wake of the initial inquiry.

Two days later, Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir described the killing as "murder", telling
Fox News "a tremendous mistake" had been made. He denied that the crown prince
had ordered the killing.

On 25 October, Saudi Arabia's public prosecutor was quoted in state media as saying
Khashoggi's murder was "premeditated".

The prosecutor's account came after investigations by a joint Saudi-Turkish task force,
broadcaster al-Ekhbariya said.

Then, at a news conference on 15 November, the Saudi public prosecutor said that
Khashoggi was given a lethal injection after a struggle and his body was dismembered
inside the consulate after his death.

The body parts were then handed over to a local "collaborator" outside the grounds, he
added.

Eleven people have been charged over the journalist's death and the prosecutor is
seeking the death penalty for five of them, although none of those officially charged
have been identified.

What does Turkey say happened to him?

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says there is evidence that the "savage" killing was
planned days in advance.

He says three teams of 15 Saudi nationals arrived in Istanbul before the murder and
that the group had removed the security cameras and surveillance footage from the
consulate building prior to Khashoggi's arrival.
On 31 October, Turkey gave its first official statement on how it believes Khashoggi was
killed, saying he was immediately strangled and his body was dismembered.

Unnamed Turkish officials previously told the media he had been tortured first.

The reports said Turkey had audio and video recordings of the killing, without saying
how they had been obtained. President Erdogan has not mentioned them.

Turkey's pro-government newspaper Yeni Safak quotes sources as saying that the
Saudi consul general can be heard on one tape warning the alleged agents: "Do this
outside. You're going to get me in trouble."

"Shut up if you want to live when you return to [Saudi] Arabia," a person can reportedly
be heard telling the diplomat on another tape.

On 10 November, Mr Erdogan said Turkey had given the recordings to Saudi Arabia,
the US, the UK, Germany and France.

"They listened to the conversations which took place here, they know", he said.

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau later said intelligence agents in his country had
heard the recordings. No other country has so far admitted this.

Who are the alleged Saudi agents?

One of the men, Maher Mutreb, served as a colonel in Saudi intelligence and was
based at the country's embassy in London, the BBC understands.
Four of the men have links to the Saudi crown prince and another is a senior figure in the
country's interior ministry, reports say.

Turkish officials believe the men are Saudi officials and intelligence officers, an
allegation that appears to be supported by open-source information that is freely
available.

They say the group brought a bone saw into the country and that one of its members
was a doctor who specialised in post-mortems.

Nine of the agents reportedly arrived on a private jet from the Saudi capital, Riyadh, at
about 03:15 on the day Khashoggi visited the consulate.

The rest of the suspected agents are reported to have arrived later that day on a second
private jet or on commercial flights. The group then checked into two hotels near the
consulate building.

CCTV footage broadcast by Turkish TV appears to show groups of Saudi men entering
the country via Istanbul airport and then checking into the hotels.