Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister says officials do not know details of how dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed in their consulate in Istanbul or where his body is.
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| Turkish police forensic experts examine the roof of the residence of Saudi Arabia's consul-general |
The comments from Adel al-Jubeir on Fox News, which were some of the most direct yet from Riyadh, came as an anonymous senior Government official gave a new version of how Khashoggi died that contradicts previous explanations.
The anonymous official said Khashoggi was accidentally killed in a chokehold before another man put on the journalist's clothes to make it appear as if he had left the consulate.
Saudi Arabia has given multiple and conflicting statements about Khashoggi's killing on October 2.
After denying any involvement in the 59-year-old's disappearance for two weeks, Saudi Arabia announced over the weekend that Khashoggi — a critic of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — had died during a fight in the building.
However Mr Jubeir's comments on Fox News appear to step back from that account of the incident, with the Minister saying Saudi authorities were yet to determine how Khashoggi was killed, or the location of his body.
"He was killed in the consulate. We don't know in terms of details how. We don't know where the body is," Mr Jubeir said.
"We are determined to uncover every stone … We are determined to punish those who are responsible for this murder."
Mr Jubeir called the killing of the journalist a "huge and grave mistake", however he sought to shield the powerful Prince Salman from the widening crisis, saying the Crown Prince had not been aware of the incident.
He characterised Khashoggi's killing as "a rogue operation" and apologised to his family.
"This is a terrible mistake, this is a terrible tragedy. Our condolences go out to them, we feel their pain," Mr Jubeir said.
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| Saudi Arabia previously denied allegations Khashoggi was killed in the building |
Saudi King Salman and Prince Salman have now called Khashoggi's son Salah to express their condolences, the Saudi Press Agency said late on Sunday.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan — who has remained largely silent, even as Turkey's pro-Government media reported gruesome allegations about how Khashoggi was killed — said he would reveal "necessary details" about the case later in the week.
Accidentally killed and taken from consulate rolled up in rug
The new account — provided to Reuters by a senior Government official who requested to remained anonymous — suggests the team of 15 Saudi nationals sent to confront Khashoggi had threatened him with being drugged and kidnapped and then killed him in a chokehold when he resisted.A member of the team then dressed in Khashoggi's clothes to make it appear as if he had left the consulate.
The Saudi official presented Reuters with what he said were Saudi internal intelligence documents, which appeared to show the initiative to bring back dissidents as well as the specific one involving Khashoggi.
He also showed testimony from those involved in what he described as the 15-man team's cover-up, and the initial results of an internal probe.
He did not provide proof to substantiate the findings of the investigation and the other evidence.
According to the latest version of the death, the Government wanted to convince Khashoggi, who moved to Washington a year ago fearing reprisals for his views, to return to the kingdom as part of a campaign to prevent Saudi dissidents from being recruited by the country's enemies, the official said.
According to the plan, the team could hold Khashoggi in a safe house outside Istanbul for "a period of time" but then release him if he ultimately refused to return to Saudi Arabia, the official said.
Things went wrong from the start as the team overstepped their orders and quickly employed violence, the official said.
When Khashoggi raised his voice, the team panicked. They moved to restrain him, placing him in a chokehold and covering his mouth, according to the account.
"They tried to prevent him from shouting but he died," the official said. "The intention was not to kill him."
To cover up their misdeed, the team rolled up Khashoggi's body in a rug, took it out in a consular vehicle and handed it over to a "local co-operator" for disposal, the official said.
Republicans and European nations pressure Saudi leaders
A bipartisan group of US politicians has accused the Crown Prince of directing the operation, with Republican Senator Rand Paul telling Fox News that the US "cannot continue to have relations with him and so I think he's going to have to be replaced".In response to the comments by the Kentucky senator, Mr Jubeir said he finds it "very surprising that somebody 6,000 miles away can be certain about an event that happened 6,000 miles away with no access to information or intelligence".
He said it was "a judgement call on the part of Senator Paul" that was "based in emotion" rather than fact.
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| Jamal Khashoggi was a critic of the Saudi Crown Prince. |
"Yes, I think he did it," Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
Three major European powers — Germany, Britain and France — pressed Saudi Arabia to provide facts to back up its earlier explanation that a fight led to the journalist's death.
"There remains an urgent need for clarification of exactly what happened … beyond the hypotheses that have been raised so far in the Saudi investigation, which need to be backed by facts to be considered credible," the three countries said in a joint statement.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel also announced that her country would halt all arms exports to Saudi Arabia while uncertainty over Khashoggi's fate remains.
"We are far from this having been cleared up and those responsible held to account," she said.
"As far as arms exports are concerned, those can't take place in the current circumstances."
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