The Central Intelligence Agency of the United States has reached the conclusion that Jamal Khashoggi's killing was ordered by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin-Salman.
This new development contradicts Saudi's statement which has always maintained that Prince Salman has not been involved or even had any knowledge of the operation.
The CIA found that the 15 Saudi agents sent to Istanbul to assassinate Khashoggi flew on a government aircraft.
Khashoggi, a columnist for the Washington Post, was last seen entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on October 2. He had to go to the Consulate to procure the documents necessary to marry his Turkish fiancée.
Before leaving for Istanbul, Khashoggi is said to have spoken to the Saudi Ambassador, Khalid bin Salman, who also happens to be Prince Salman's brother.
The Post's report says that when Khashoggi spoke to Khalid Salman, the latter told him that he could go to the consulate at Istanbul for the documents and even assured Khashoggi that it will be safe.
However, Khalid denied that he spoke to Khashoggi on the phone. He tweeted, "As we told the Washington Post the last contact I had with Mr. Khashoggi was via text on Oct 26, 2017. I never talked to him by phone and certainly never suggested he go to Turkey for any reason. I ask the US government to release any information regarding this claim (sic)."
After Khashoggi was killed, Maher Mutreb, a security official, had called Prince Salman's right-hand man Saud al-Qahtani to tell him that the operation has been completed, reports the Guardian.
In October, Saudi Arabia had repeatedly denied that Khashoggi was killed in the Consulate. After a lot of pressure, they came out and said that Khashoggi was strangled and dismembered as soon as he entered the Consulate.
Another time, they said that Khashoggi was killed in a fistfight.
The latest statement said that the 15 member team to Istanbul bring back Khashoggi but when he resisted, they killed and dismembered him.
However, the Saudi officials always said that the crown prince was not involved in this. The Post quotes an official saying, "The accepted position is that there is no way this happened without him being aware or involved."
