[PJ] One of the 15 Saudis shown on video walking into the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul shortly before journalist Jamal Khashoggi was apparently murdered, Mashal Saad al-Bostani, was involved in a fatal car crash in Riyadh, according to the Turkish newspaper Yeni Safak.
Few details of the accident have emerged, but the newspaper, a semi-official organ of the Turkish government, claims the accident was "suspicious."
Meanwhile, another Turkish media outlet, the Hurriyet Daily News, reports that the Saudi consul in Istanbul, Mohammad al-Otaibi, may be the target of the "next execution." News accounts quoting from a Turkish intelligence recording that purportedly caught Khashoggi's murder and dismemberment said that al-Otaibi may be targeted because of his reluctance to have the execution take place at the consulate.
Al-Otaibi was caught on audio tape during Khashoggi’s interrogations ‐ during which the journalist’s fingers were cut off and he was beheaded ‐ telling them to "do it somewhere else outside or I will be in trouble."
He returned to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday before Turkish police searched his residence.
Surveillance footage showed consulate vehicles with diplomatic plates arrived at the consul’s home about two hours after Khashoggi, 60, walked into the consulate.
Saudi Arabia has called the allegations "baseless" and claimed the writer left unharmed later in the day.
Crime scene investigators concluded a second search of the consulate and the consul’s residence overnight Thursday.
If the Saudis are, indeed, "tying up loose ends," this won't be the only "accident" to befall the alleged killers.
Two big caveats to this story. The news outlets reporting the "suspicious accident' are tools of the Turkish government. The story would not have appeared at all without the blessing of the highest authorities. |