Exclusive pictures emerge of Khashoggi entering the Saudi consulate

TRT World has obtained exclusive pictures which show Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, hours before he was reported missing after he failed to come out of the building.

The images taken from CCTV footage shows that Khashoggi was wearing what appears to be a black jacket, a light grey shirt and grey trousers when he entered the consulate. 

Earlier on Sunday, a senior Saudi government official told Reuters the Riyadh critic was killed after being put in a chokehold. 

This new version of the events that led up to Khashoggi’s death contradicts previous explanations from Saudi Arabia, which in a statement on Saturday said he had died in a fist-fight that broke out in the consulate.

According to the unnamed Saudi source, a team of 15 Saudi nationals sent to confront Khashoggi at the consulate had threatened him with being drugged and kidnapped, upon which he resisted. Amid the scuffle, Khashoggi was put in a chokehold which ultimately led to his death.

A member of the team then dressed in Khashoggi's clothes and walked out of the building to make it appear as if he had left the consulate, the official said.

Turkish officials suspect Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist, was killed inside the consulate by the team of Saudi agents and his body cut up.

Saudi Arabia's account of the incident has changed multiple times. The authorities initially dismissed reports that Khashoggi had gone missing inside the consulate as false and said he had left the building soon after entering. When the media reported a few days later that he had been killed there, they called the accusations "baseless".

After finally admitting that Khashoggi had been killed in the consulate, Saudi King Salman ordered the dismissal of five officials, including Saud al Qahtani, a royal court adviser seen as the right-hand man to Prince Mohammed, and deputy intelligence chief Ahmed Asiri, Saudi state media reported on Saturday.

Eighteen Saudi nationals had been arrested, the Saudi public prosecutor said in a statement.

The king also ordered a restructuring of the intelligence service, to be led by Prince Mohammed, suggesting the prince still retained wide-ranging authority.