Khashoggi death: US meets Saudi crown prince despite criticism
A senior US
official has held talks with Saudi Arabia's crown prince in Riyadh, despite
growing concern over the Saudis' role in the murder of journalist Jamal
Khashoggi.
US Treasury
Secretary Steven Mnuchin met Mohammed bin Salman on Monday.
Turkish
officials say Mr Khashoggi was murdered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul
after a visit on 2 October.
Saudi
officials have given a series of conflicting accounts, but now say a
"rogue operation" was to blame.
They
initially said Mr Khashoggi had left the consulate on the same day he visited
it. Last Friday they admitted for the first time he was dead and said he had
been killed in a "fist fight".
Turkish
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said he will reveal the "naked
truth" of the matter in parliament on Tuesday.
What do we
know of the Riyadh talks?
Saudi state
media reported that Mr Mnuchin and the crown prince had stressed "the
importance of the Saudi-US strategic partnership".
The meeting
in the Saudi capital was held behind closed doors and the US has so far made no
public comment on the talks.
They were
held despite the fact that Mr Mnuchin - like a number of other Western
politicians and businessmen - had pulled out of a major investment forum being
held in the Saudi capital this week.
President
Donald Trump's latest comment suggests the US is yet to decide on its response.
"I am
not satisfied with what I've heard," Mr Trump told reporters at the White
House.
But he
added: "I don't want to lose all that investment that's been made in our
country," referring to the multi-billion-dollar arms deals with Saudi
Arabia.
He said:
"We're going to get to the bottom of it."
The Saudis
say they have arrested 18 people, sacked two aides of Mohammed bin Salman and
set up a body, under his leadership, to reform the intelligence agency over the
killing.
How has the
Saudi version changed?
Foreign
Minister Adel al-Jubeir provided the latest comments, saying the killing was a
"rogue operation".
"We are
determined to find out all the facts and we are determined to punish those who
a "The individuals who did this did this outside the scope of their
authority," he added. "There obviously was a tremendous mistake made,
and what compounded the mistake was the attempt to try to cover up."
He said that
Saudi Arabia did not know where the body was.
re
responsible for this murder," he said.
However,
Yeni Safak, a media outlet close to Turkey's government, said it had
information showing that the office of the crown prince received four phone
calls from the consulate after the killing.
Reuters news
agency reported on Sunday it had spoken to a Saudi official who said Mr
Khashoggi had died in a chokehold after resisting attempts to return him to
Saudi Arabia. His body was then rolled in a rug and given to a local
"co-operator" to dispose of.
A Saudi
operative then reportedly donned the journalist's clothes and left the
consulate.
CNN quoted a
senior Turkish official as saying a Saudi agent had been captured on
surveillance footage dressed as the journalist.
The video
appears to show the man leaving the consulate by the back door on the day the
journalist was killed, wearing Mr Khashoggi's clothes, a fake beard and
glasses, CNN said.
In another
development, Turkish police found a car belonging to the Saudi consulate left
in an underground car park in Istanbul.
Turkish
media also posted footage apparently showing Saudi consular staff in Istanbul
burning documents a day after Mr Khashoggi's disappearance.
Turkey's
'full account' vow
Analysis by
BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner
After weeks
of calculated and often lurid leaks to the Turkish media, Tuesday morning's
statement by President Erdogan is eagerly awaited.
Turkey has
promised "a full account" of what happened to Mr Khashoggi, with
nothing held back.
So that
would include the widely reported audio tape from inside the Saudi consulate
then? And evidence of the "bone saw" allegedly brought in by the hit
team that killed him?
Because both
of these elements are crucial in establishing the facts about what happened and
the motives of his murderers. If evidence of the bone saw can be produced then
it would certainly imply murderous intent by the hit team from Riyadh.
The audio
tape of his murder - if it does exist - could be excruciating to listen to -
but is an essential part of the puzzle of how Mr Khashoggi died. But Turkey, a
country that has itself jailed more journalists than any other nation on Earth,
may have its own reasons for holding back on what it has.
For the full
story, we may have to wait a little longer yet.
How have
other world leaders reacted?
Many of them
have condemned the murder and demanded a full investigation:
German
Chancellor Angela Merkel said "it must be cleared up", otherwise
there would be no arms exports to Saudi Arabia
UK Foreign
Secretary Jeremy Hunt condemned the killing "in the strongest possible
terms"
French
Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said the murder was a grave crime
Canadian
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau threatened to cancel a multi-billion-dollar
defence contract
President
Erdogan's adviser dismissed the Saudi explanations as mockery
But several
of Saudi Arabia's regional allies - including Kuwait and Egypt - have come out
in its support.
Meanwhile,
at least 40 attendees have withdrawn from the Future Investment Initiative, a
conference known as "Davos in the Desert", that begins in Riyadh on
Tuesday.
However,
hundreds are still attending, and the talk among delegates is of pragmatism,
and that there is a big future at stake in Saudi Arabia, the BBC's Arab Affairs
editor Sebastian Usher reports from Riyadh.
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