New leaks .. Khashoggi's assassins tried to kidnap him first

Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was planned to be kidnapped from his country's consulate to the villa of a Saudi businessman in the Yalova area on the outskirts of Istanbul, security sources said.

According to the confidential testimony of the defendant Maher Abdul Aziz al-Mutrab, forensic physician Salah Mohammad al-Tabiqi was responsible for cutting Khashoggi's body in five suitcases and removing it from the consulate, in addition to the fact that al-Tabiqi was responsible for concealing the aftermath of the crime.

The newspaper pointed out that according to audio recordings intercepted by Turkish intelligence, the head of the assassination team, Mansour Abu Hussein, called the day before Khashoggi's murder of Saudi businessman Mohammed bin Ahmed Al-Fawzan asks him about the time required to reach his home.

Turkish security concluded that the assassination team intended to send Khashoggi to the villa subject of the conversation in Yalova if he brought him alive for questioning or concealment.

Sabah newspaper reported in its issue yesterday that a Saudi citizen provided information from close to the Saudi intelligence service at the Ankara embassy in Ireland, about a person named Saleh al-Nashaa entered a false Jordanian passport to Istanbul, and supplied the crime inside the consulate.

The newspaper noted that the source claimed the existence of the role of Jordanian intelligence in the murder of Khashoggi.

Phone calls
The Turkish newspaper also published the content of phone calls intercepted shortly after Khashoggi's first visit to his country's consulate in Istanbul, revealing the first leads of the assassination.

One of the calls, according to the newspaper, between the Colonel in the Saudi intelligence Maher singer and military attache Ahmed Abdullah Muzaini, in which he expressed his shock to see Khashoggi inside the consulate.

Then another phone call between Consul Mohammed al-Otaibi and an official at the office of Saud al-Qahtani (former adviser to the crown prince) in Riyadh told him al-Qahtani that State Security is requesting a trusted person registered with the consulate to carry out a highly secretive security work.

This was followed by a communication between Al-Otaibi and Al-Muzaini in which he informed him about an urgent training mission in Riyadh on an issue that developed very quickly, he said.

On Monday, the newspaper published a report on preparations by singer and forensic physician Salah al-Tabiqi to chop the journalist's body before arriving at the consulate, where they were talking about how to distribute body parts (chest and abdomen) to plastic bags.

The recordings also included the sounds of the assault on Khashoggi, telling him he would go to Riyadh, and their attempts to force him to write a letter to his son saying he was in Istanbul.

According to the recordings, the last sounds detected included Khashoggi's rattle and the sounds of his deep breathing inside the bag where his head was placed, and then an electric saw was heard for half an hour.

Finally, the consulate cameras show pictures of the exhumation in five suitcases.

The three death squads
The same newspaper also published a report saying that Ahmed Asiri, the former deputy intelligence chief, established three divisions: the first for intelligence, the second for persuasion and negotiation, and the third for logistical support, with General Mansour Abu Hussein responsible for all of them.

She pointed out that "for the first time it becomes clear that the leader of the implementation team consisting of three groups is Abu Hussein, not as previously thought to be the singer in charge of the negotiation process with Khashoggi, and is the second man in the team."

According to the newspaper, Asiri shirk responsibility for the killing, and said in his statement that he had instructed Abu Hussein to bring Khashoggi to the Kingdom of persuasion, and did not ask him to bring him by force, while this testimony contradicted the statement of Abu Hussein himself, who said that Asiri asked him to bring the journalist even asylum To force.

Abu-Husayn added that Asiri collected him with al-Qahtani, who ordered him to bring Khashoggi to the kingdom.He pointed out that he had formed three teams and contacted the consul general in Istanbul and told him that he would come with 15 people, without giving him any detailed information.

The second man in the assassination team (singer) said that he decided to kill Khashoggi if he was not convinced to leave the country, and was initially planning to bury him in the garden of the consulate, but he did so for fear of being discovered.

Regarding what happened with Khashoggi, he said that they sat with him and tried to persuade him to go with them to Riyadh, and at the same time put on the table in front of him a towel and dust and substance: "Khashoggi asked me what will you do? I said I will get rid of you and punish you."

The forensic doctor and a member of the assassination team (al-Tabiqi) said he injected Khashoggi with a large amount of a banned drug that he had brought from Cairo, before cutting his body to pieces.