by Oui
Fri Oct 5th, 2018 at 06:33:46 PM EST
Changed title of diary, earlier version:
Missing VIPs - Media Remains Silent
[Update-1] Added latest news in comments below ...
No need to poison dissidents or "scumbags".
And Trump ally Crown Prince Salman is uneasy about criticism on his new policy to extract "tax" on the very wealthy by extraordinary means ...
○ Saudi journalist disappears from consulate in Turkey | UPI |
○ Washington Post prints empty column for Saudi writer missing in Turkey
More below the fold ...
[Update-2] Video footage shown on Turkish media …
Jamal Khashoggi: details of alleged Saudi hit squad emerge | The Guardian |
Saudi special forces officers, intelligence officials, national guards and a forensics expert were allegedly among a 15-person team tied to the disappearance in Istanbul of the high-profile dissident Jamal Khashoggi, it has been reported by Turkish pro-government newspapers.
The details of the alleged hit squad were listed on flight manifests leaked to Turkish media. Social media profiles of some of the alleged suspects link them to elite sections of the Saudi security apparatus.
Meanwhile, investigators are turning their focus towards the underground garage of the Saudi consul general’s home, where the cars thought to have carried Khashoggi are believed to have to have been driven immediately after they left the nearby consulate.
[Updatre-3] Death sentence executed …
Saudi Press On Khashoggi Before And Immediately After His Disappearance: Traitor And Collaborator | MEMRI |
'Okaz Columnist Ahmad Al-Shamrani: "One Who Betrays Us, Jimmy, Has No Place Among Us"
On June 15, 2018, Ahmad Al-Shamrani wrote in his column in the Saudi daily 'Okaz: "I have nothing to say about Jamal Khashoggi except that he is a traitor and has become the same as the apostate 'Abd Al-Bari 'Atwan [editor of Raialyoum.com and known for his criticism of the Saudi regime]. But 'Atwan has nothing to do with us, except in the sense that he once worked at a Saudi paper, [1] while Jimmy [Jamal Khashoggi] used to preach patriotism and saw those who come out against the leader and the homeland as traitors who should be prosecuted. That's what he said. And now he has become the sort of person he warned us against. You poor wretch, Jamal... You have become a servant of Turkey and Qatar, and perhaps also of the third side [of this triangle], Iran. This is not surprising, because whoever betrays the homeland where he lives and studied is easily [tempted by] money...
"Your masters are exhausting you, dragging you from one podium to the next to slander Saudi Arabia and its customs. I actually pity you when I see you wheezing into the microphone, repeating the same things over and over, while half of what you say cannot [be heard] due to your heavy breathing, oh Jimmy. It was Saudi Arabia, which you curse, that taught you and brought you out of the caves of Afghanistan [where you were a jihadi fighter] to make you into a media personality and chief editor of several papers. It is our leaders who placed the 'iqal [2] upon your head and taught you that nationality is the first priority and must not be bargained over. How did you trade your 'iqal for a turban [worn by the Turks and Iranians] and your Saudi robes for trousers that were possibly picked out for you [by someone else]?... One who betrays us, Jimmy, has no place among us... Our honor as Saudis, including your relatives, does not permit us to allow you to be part of our homeland..." [3]
Jamal Khashoggi, whom I know | CNN News Arabic |
This article by Dr. Abdul Khaliq Abdullah, a professor of political science from the UAE, and the opinions below, express the opinion of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of CNN.
A week ago, Saudi journalist Gamal Khashoggi is missing and with each passing day the mystery of his disappearance becomes increasingly mysterious. Jamal, who is keen to attend the media attention stopped writing suddenly, then left Saudi Arabia and now he entered the list of people disappeared in the world, the worst fate can be exposed to the writer and educated, who enters this blacklist no one knows his fate, whether alive or dead.
Jamal, whom I know is not worthy of this fate and did not seek such a fate, he is one of the noblest people named in the beauty of his creation.
Jamal Khashoggi, whom I know very close, did not want a moment to leave his home and live away from his small and large family. He told me in his last meeting in Washington: The most difficult decision he made in his life was to leave Saudi Arabia and live in exile. Every day in exile is about a thousand days of hardship.
I asked him why she left. Jamal was embarrassed by the question: fear of the difficult situation that is getting harder in Saudi Arabia. It was a difficult situation, but it is now intolerable.
"I was too shy to be jailed, and others were imprisoned for reasons that were unconvincing and unjustified. I escaped from the possibility of being jailed. I do not imagine myself behind an iron cell like friends of me who were once close to decision makers. And then the prison is not suitable for me after all that I have given to my country, and it is not appropriate for my country. So I decided to go out quickly and hurry and move away temporarily. I did not run away from home, but escaped the specter of the prison that was chasing me.
In addition to the fear that Jamal felt that he might be imprisoned, he received fraternal advice from high-ranking officials that he should leave Saudi Arabia quickly.
END OF UPDATE-3
[Update-4] Breaking News …
○ Jamal Khashoggi case: All the latest updates | Al Jazeera – Qatar |
Turkey has proof journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed at Saudi embassy | DW |
The Turkish government has audio and video recordings proving that journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul earlier month, The Washington Post reported on Thursday.
Citing unidentified US and Turkish officials, the report said the recordings indicate the Post columnist and US resident was interrogated, tortured and murdered after he entered the Saudi consulate on October 2 to arrange paperwork for a marriage.
It was unclear if US officials had actually seen or heard the recordings, but the Post reported that Turkish officials have described their content to their American counterparts.
○ Saudi's 'Davos in the Desert' hit by cancellations over Khashoggi case | DW |
○ 'Davos in the Desert' Offers Glimpse of Changing Saudi Arabia (2017)
END OF UPDATE-4
[Update-5] Quite an about face for Saudi leadership …
Saudi: Khashoggi killing was premeditated | Gulf News |
Riyadh: Saudi prosecutors said Thursday that Turkish evidence showed the slaying of journalist Jamal Khashoggi was premeditated. A statement from the Saudi Press Agency said: “Further to the statement issued on the results of the preliminary investigation conducted by the Public Prosecution in the case of the citizen Jamal Khashoggi - may God have mercy on him - the Public Prosecution received information from the Turkish side through the Saudi-Turkish joint team that suggests the suspects in that incident had committed their act with a premeditated intention.”
Also Thursday, Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman attended the first meeting of a committee aiming to restructure the kingdom’s intelligence services after the killing of Khashoggi, the state-run Saudi Press Agency said.
…
Saudi crown prince: ‘justice will prevail’
Saudi Arabia’s crown prince denounced the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi as a “heinous crime”, and insisted that “justice will prevail”.
Attending an investment conference in Riyadh, Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman said the case of Khashoggi was “painful”.
“Those behind this crime will be held accountable... in the end justice will prevail,” Prince Mohammad said.
○ Saudi Arabia still has questions to answer over Khashoggi: Turkish FM | Hürriyet Daily News |
END OF UPDATE-5
Related reading ..
○ International Coalition to Defeat Democrats and Hillary in 2016
French police investigate whereabouts of Chinese Interpol chief after wife reports him missing | The Straits Times |
French police are investigating the disappearance of the president of Interpol, Meng Hongwei, who was reported missing after travelling from France to his native China.
Meng's wife contacted police in Lyon, the French city where the international police agency is based, after not hearing from him since his departure on Sept 29, police sources said.
A person familiar with the investigation into the disappearance said the initial working assumption of Western investigators was that Meng had antagonised Chinese authorities in some way and had been detained as a result.
There have been several cases in recent years of senior Chinese officials vanishing without explanation, only for the government to announce weeks or even months later that they have been put under investigation, often for suspected corruption.
○ Missing Interpol president Meng Hongwei 'under investigation' in China | SCMP |
