U.S. President Donald Trump says he will be briefed Wednesday afternoon by U.S. officials looking into the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi Arabian agents.
 |
| Turkish police crime scene investigators, looking for possible clues into the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, walk toward an underground car park, where authorities Monday found a vehicle belonging to the Saudi consulate, in Istanbul, Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2018. Saudi officials murdered Khashoggi in their Istanbul consulate after plotting his death for days, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday, contradicting Saudi Arabia's explanation that the writer was accidentally killed. |
ANKARA, TURKEY (AP) — The Latest on the killing of Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi (all times local):
2 a.m.
U.S. President Donald Trump says he will be briefed Wednesday afternoon by U.S. officials looking into the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi Arabian agents.
After tomorrow, Trump says, "We'll know pretty much everything there is to know."
He calls the killing of Khashoggi "a total fiasco" and says Saudi Arabia never should have thought about killing the dissident Washington Post contributor.
Trump says, "Once they thought about it, everything else they did was bad too."
Trump is repeating the denials by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that he knew of the plot before it was carried out.
__
11:55 p.m.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says the Trump administration is revoking the visas of some Saudi officials implicated in the death of writer Jamal Khashoggi.
Pompeo announced the step at a State Department news conference Tuesday. Vice President Mike Pence said earlier that Khashoggi's death at Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, "will not go without an American response."
The visa revocations are the first punitive measures taken by the administration against the Saudis since Khashoggi disappeared after entering the consulate on Oct. 2.
Visa records are considered confidential and Pompeo did not say which or how many Saudi officials would have their visas revoked. Saudi authorities have detained 18 people in connection with Khashoggi's death, which officials say was accidental despite Turkish allegations that Khashoggi was intentionally killed.
___
11:15 p.m.
President Donald Trump is criticizing the Saudi operation that killed journalist Jamal Khashoggi, calling it one of the "worst cover-ups in the history of cover-ups."
Trump tells reporters in the Oval Office that he's expecting a full report on the killing soon.
But he says, "They had a very bad original concept" and it was "carried out poorly."
He calls the events after Khashoggi's death "the worst cover-up ever."
Saudi Arabia has claimed Khashoggi, a writer for The Washington Post who wrote critically about Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, died accidentally in a brawl at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2.
But Turkish officials say a 15-men team tortured, killed and dismembered the writer and say Saudi officials had planned the killing for days.
___
10:50 p.m.
Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri is scheduled to speak at a high-profile investment conference in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.
Hariri's appearance, announced Tuesday, was not previously listed on the agenda, and comes as Saudi Arabia is under mounting pressure over the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi officials in Istanbul earlier this month.
Hariri, a dual Lebanese-Saudi citizen, resigned from his post last year during a visit to Saudi Arabia in a speech that many Lebanese suspected was given under duress. Hariri later returned to Lebanon and his post following French mediation.
He has visited Saudi Arabia and has met with the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman since then.
Several Western business leaders and officials withdrew from the Saudi conference after Khashoggi's killing, the circumstances of which remain under dispute.
___
10 p.m.
The widow of former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko, who died from radioactive poisoning in 2006, says the death of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi should be a wake-up call about the deadly behavior of authoritarian states.
Marina Litvinenko says her husband's murder may have led some governments to think "it's just so easy to kill people" without provoking a strong response.
Alexander Litvinenko, a Russian agent turned Kremlin critic, died in November 2006 after drinking tea laced with polonium-210 at a London hotel. Britain says he was murdered by Russian intelligence, likely with the approval of President Vladimir Putin.
Marina Litvinenko said the death of Khashoggi and the poisoning of ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal in England were evidence that her husband's death had not deterred governments from seeking to silence their critics.
She said "it's very important to react (to) any kind of behavior and crime. Because if you will make nothing happen today, you will just be not sure what might happen tomorrow."
___
8:15 p.m.
The United Nations says Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stands by his earlier call for an independent and transparent investigation into the death of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq reiterated Tuesday that the secretary-general can initiate an investigation if key parties request it or if there is a legislative mandate from a U.N. body.
Saudi Arabia said early Saturday that Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington Post, was killed during a "fistfight" in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2. an explanation many countries have questioned.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in an interview with state-run Anadolu Agency on Tuesday that "If a request for an international investigation is made ... we would cooperate."
Haq said that did not constitute a formal request from Turkey's government, which Guterres would need to consider authorizing an international investigation.
___
7:30 p.m.
Turkish state media say investigators found three suitcases, a laptop computer and clothing inside a car belonging to the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.
State television TRT reported that Turkish crime scene investigators inspected the vehicle on Tuesday for possible evidence in the slaying of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Authorities discovered the car at an underground garage on Monday.
Saudi Arabia has said Khashoggi was killed in a fistfight that broke out inside the consulate. Turkey says he was the victim of a planned killing.
Turkish authorities have not found the journalist's body.
___
7:10 p.m.
Foreign ministers from the G-7 group of industrialized nations say the explanations offered for the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi leave many questions unanswered and those responsible for the death must be held to account.
A joint statement from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States, along with the European Union, condemned Khashoggi's slaying in the "strongest possible terms."
They called Saudi Arabia's confirmation of the writer's death inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul a first step toward full transparency and accountability.
The statement issued Tuesday reiterated the need for a thorough, credible and prompt investigation done with the full collaboration of Turkish authorities.
The G-7 ministers say Khashoggi's killing demonstrates the need to project journalists and to reaffirm the right to free expression.
___
6:45 p.m.
The European Union's top diplomat says the bloc is working with the group of seven most industrialized nations to coordinate a response to the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said Tuesday that "the European Union's reaction from now on will depend on the next steps that will be taken by the Saudi authorities."
Mogherini told EU lawmakers that foreign ministers are working with their G7 counterparts on "further steps and statements to be taken together." She did not go into detail about those steps.
She called on the Saudi's "to provide all the information they have about the case and to ensure that those responsible are brought to justice."
Lawmakers described Saudi explanations about Khashoggi's death as a "cover-up and a "white-wash."
___
6:30 p.m.
Turkish officials say President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has promised family members of slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi that Turkey would do all it can "to shed light on the murder."
The officials said Erdogan on Tuesday called Khashoggi's son, Abdullah, to express his condolences, and also spoke with other members of his family.
Erdogan told family members that he was "deeply saddened" by his death and that Turkey would follow up the incident. The officials provided the information on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment