In the first official confession, the Saudi Attorney-General announced the death of Jamal Khashoggi in his consulate in Istanbul on October 2, but Saudi sources attributed the death of the Saudi journalist to a quarrel. It also announced the detention of 18 Saudis to investigate, and toppled four senior officials and began to restructure the presidency of the General Intelligence.
According to the official Saudi Press Agency, the Attorney General said early in the dawn that "preliminary investigations on the subject of the citizen Jamal Khashoggi showed his death - God mercy - and investigations continue with the detainees in custody of the case and the number so far 18 people, all of Saudi nationality."
The Attorney General added that discussions were held between Khashoggi and those who met him while he was in the consulate, which led to quarrels and clashes with hands and then his death.
The official agency quoted an official source as saying that the authorities had taken the necessary steps to clarify the truth in the case of Khashoggi and stressed the accountability of those involved and bring them to justice.
At the same time, the official news channel announced that a royal order had been issued to terminate the service of Ahmed Asiri, deputy head of general intelligence, the director of the General Directorate of Security and Protection headed by intelligence, Major Rashad bin Hamed al-Mehmadi, the assistant head of general intelligence for human resources, Major General Abdullah bin Khalifa Al-Shaya, Royal Saud Al Qahtani.
She added that King Salman bin Abdul Aziz directed the formation of a ministerial committee under the chairmanship of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to restructure the presidency of the General Intelligence and modernize its system and regulations and determine their powers accurately.
On October 5, the Crown Prince told the Bloomberg news channel that Khashoggi had left the consulate minutes or hours later. The next day, the consulate opened its headquarters to Reuters, in an effort to explain that Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi, who disappeared five days ago, is not inside.