Posted by Scott Lucas | Feb 27, 2021 |
Journalist Jamal Khashoggi, murdered by a Saudi hit squad in Istanbul in October 2018, and his fiancée Hatice Cengiz (File)
A US intelligence report concludes that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved the murder of the dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi in October 2018.
Khashoggi was assassinated by a 15-member Saudi hit team sent from Riyadh. He was lured into the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, to get a certificate for his forthcoming marriage, overpowered, and suffocated to death. His body was dismembered with a bone saw.
The CIA assessed soon after the killing, with moderate to high confidence, that Mohammad bin Salman ordered the murder. However, the report released on Friday was the first public confirmation of the conclusion, assessing that the hit team reported directly to the Crown Prince.