Étiquettes
Turkish sources told CNN man wore journalist’s clothes to leave Saudi consulate
Newly leaked CCTV footage has emerged that appears to show a man leaving the Saudi consulate in Istanbul wearing the clothes of the murdered Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
CNN aired the footage on Monday, citing a Turkish official who identified the man as Mustafa al-Madani, a “body double” and member of a 15-man Saudi team sent to Istanbul to target Khashoggi. The agent, wearing glasses and a fake beard in an apparent attempt to further resemble the journalist, is seen touring a number of landmarks in the Turkish city after leaving the consulate.
The apparent Saudi aim was for footage of the man to be picked up by CCTV and distributed, thereby bolstering claims made in the days after Khashoggi’s disappearance on 2 October that he had left the consulate unscathed.
Late on Friday, after weeks of denials, the Saudis admitted for the first time that Khashoggi, a prominent critic of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, had been killed after entering the consulate to organise paperwork for his marriage. His fiancée had been waiting for him at the front of the building.
Saudi Arabia has never produced any CCTV footage of the body double to support this claim, and either Saudi officials realised the story would not be credible or had been waiting for Turkish official to be tricked by the ruse.
The footage was handed to CNN news channel by Turkish authorities.
The CCTV leak of the apparent use of a body double is significant because it appears to bolster Turkish claims that the Saudis always intended either to kill Khashoggi or move him back to Saudi Arabia.
The footage appears to show the Saudi agent entering the consulate without a beard and wearing a blue and white checked shirt and dark blue trousers. Footage from later in the day appears to show him leaving the consulate dressed as Khashoggi, but wearing the same pair of trainers that he had arrived in.
The revelation came as a pro-Turkish government newspaper published claims that there had been four telephone calls between the Saudi consulate and the office of the crown prince in Riyadh on the day of Khashoggi’s death. The Turkish newspaper claim is not substantiated, but previous leaks to Turkish press by Turkish government sources have proved accurate.
The phone call claim takes responsibility for Khashoggi’s murder closer to the office of the crown Prince, though the content of the calls are not known. Riyadh’s explanation for Khashoggi’s death on Friday – that he was killed in a “fistfight” and that 18 Saudis have been detained – has been met with widespread scepticism and allegations of a cover-up designed to absolve the crown prince of direct responsibility.
Groupe Gaulliste Sceaux 