Over a month after Jamal Khashoggi was murdered inside the Saudi Arabian Consulate in Istanbul , there remain many unanswered questions. The Saudi journalist based in the U.S., known for his columns critical of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, visited the Consulate on October 2 for paperwork for his marriage. Since then, Saudi Arabia has contradicted itself several times on what happened to Khashoggi. It first said he left the mission freely, contradicting Turkish media reports that he was murdered in there. Days later, amid mounting international pressure and more leaks by the Turkish authorities, Riyadh said Khashoggi died in a “fist-fight” in the Consulate. Subsequently it admitted that he had been murdered, and arrested 18 people, including a 15-member team which had visited the Istanbul Consulate on the day Khashoggi was killed. It also fired a few influential officials, including the deputy intelligence chief. But Saudi Arabia maintained it was a rogue operation carried out without the Crown Prince’s involvement. Turkey’s request for the 18 arrested suspects to be extradited for questioning has been turned down. The Kingdom is yet to say what happened to Khashoggi’s body. Turkish media reported that he was killed, dismembered, his body parts dissolved in acid and the remains poured down the drain. Riyadh has not revealed who ordered the hit — it had to be someone really powerful to send a 15-member hit squad, that included close aides of the Crown Prince, for such a risky, complex mission.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has confirmed that there is an audio recording of the murder, which he shared with Saudi Arabia, the U.S., France, Germany and Britain. Mr. Erdoğan says all these countries know what happened to Khashoggi. The question is, what must be done to persuade Saudi Arabia to bring the perpetrators of this murder to light? To be sure, the U.S. has stopped refuelling Saudi jets bombing Yemen, ending significant support to the three-year-old war. Both the U.S. and European powers have also called on Saudi Arabia to push for peace talks to end Yemen’s stalemated conflict. But these countries, which sell weapons worth billions of dollars to Saudi Arabia and offer diplomatic protection to the Kingdom in international forums, should ask tougher questions of Riyadh about Khashoggi, and more effectively. The U.S., even after the suspension of refuelling, continues to cooperate with the war in other ways, including intelligence-sharing. President Donald Trump has said Khashoggi’s death should not affect Saudi Arabia’s weapons purchases from U.S. companies. The mystery will not be resolved until Saudi Arabia reveals what happened to his body and who in the chain of command is actually responsible for the murder. Letting Saudi Arabia get away will be a moral failure for the international community.
