World

Khashoggi murder: Turkey gives official details of Saudi writer's death

October 30, 2018 4:09 pm

Turkey has given its first official statement on how it believes Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi was killed, saying he was immediately strangled.

The statement follows weeks of media reports about the murder at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on 2 October. Turkey has yet to provide evidence.

Chief prosecutor Irfan Fidan said a meeting with his Saudi counterpart on Monday yielded “no concrete results”.

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Saudi Arabia has not commented on the meeting.

The Turkish statement said: “In accordance with plans made in advance, the victim, Jamal Khashoggi, was choked to death immediately after entering the Consulate General of Saudi Arabia.”

His body was then dismembered and destroyed “again, in line with advance plans”, it added.

Khashoggi, a Saudi national working for the US press, was a well-known critic of his home country’s rulers. His body has not been found, but Turkey, the US and Saudi Arabia have all agreed that he was killed at the consulate.