A Turkish prosecutor publicly said for the first time on Wednesday that journalist Jamal Khashoggi was strangled as soon as he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul earlier this month, adding he was later dismembered.
{mosads}A statement from chief Istanbul prosecutor Irfan Fidan’s office also said discussions with Saudi chief prosecutor Saud al-Mojeb have yielded no “concrete results” despite “good-willed efforts” by Turkey to uncover the truth, according to The Associated Press.
Khashoggi, a Virginia resident and Washington Post columnist critical of the Saudi government, was killed Oct. 2 when he went the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to get paperwork for his marriage to his Turkish fiancée.
Unnamed Turkish officials have previously told news outlets that Khashoggi was tortured, killed and dismembered by a 15-person Saudi hit squad that included a forensic doctor wielding a bone saw.
After first claiming that Khashoggi left the consulate alive, the Saudis acknowledged on Oct. 19 that he died inside the consulate. Still, they argued that Khashoggi was unintentionally killed during a physical altercation that resulted from an unapproved operation to return him to Saudi Arabia.
Last week, though, Saudi Arabia’s top prosecutor changed the kingdom’s story again, saying the killing was premeditated.
Khashoggi’s death has led to an international outcry and calls for steep punishments against the Saudis.
CIA Director Gina Haspel traveled to Turkey last week to review its evidence and has briefed President Trump. The White House said Monday that Trump is weighing his response.
On Tuesday, Defense Secretary James Mattis said that Turkey “has so far provided evidence for every allegation that they have made about what happened.”