Saudi journalist was killed in consulate, say Turkish sources

Ankara: Turkish authorities believe Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed inside his country’s consulate in Istanbul last week, Turkish sources said, in what they described as the deliberate targeting of a prominent critic of the Gulf kingdom’s rulers.

Khashoggi, a former newspaper editor in Saudi Arabia and adviser to its former head of intelligence, left the country last year saying he feared retribution for his growing criticism of Saudi policy in the Yemen war and its crackdown on dissent.

On Tuesday he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to get documents for his forthcoming marriage.

Saudi officials say he left shortly afterwards but his fiancee, who was waiting outside, said he never came out. “The initial assessment of the Turkish police is that Khashoggi has been killed at the consulate of Saudi Arabia in Istanbul,” one of two Turkish officials told Reuters on Saturday