First published in Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 25 March 2020 . Fabian Urech: The Khashoggi case - a chronology of events.
28. September 2018
Jamal Khashoggi visits the Saudi consulate in Istanbul this Friday to obtain confirmation of his divorce from his Saudi ex-wife. He needs this in order to marry his Turkish fiancée, Hatice Cengiz.
According to Cengiz and a friend, a consulate employee tells him that he can pick up the document the following week. Over the weekend, Khashoggi attends a conference in London. According to the New York Times, he tells the consulate by telephone that he will pick up the requested document on Tuesday, 2 October.
2. October 2018
A surveillance camera captures Khashoggi entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in the early afternoon. He has been missing ever since.
According to information leaked by investigators, a group of fifteen Saudi agents arrived in Istanbul in two aeroplanes from Riyadh in the early morning of the same day. According to the Turkish authorities, the alleged task force visited the Saudi consulate at the same time as Khashoggi was there.
Cengiz waits outside the consulate for her fiancé. When Khashoggi does not turn up even after several hours, she informs the police.
3. October 2018
Cengiz returns to the Saudi consulate, but there is still no trace of her fiancé. Various media - including the Reuters news agency and the Washington Post - report that the Saudi journalist has disappeared.
The Saudi authorities released a statement saying that Khashoggi was missing but had left the consulate the day before. Meanwhile, the Turkish authorities announced that Khashoggi was still in the consulate building.
4./5 October 2018
The Saudi ambassador is summoned in Ankara. The Turkish government demands an explanation from Riyadh about Khashoggi's whereabouts.
In an interview with Bloomberg, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman says that the Turkish authorities will be authorised to search the consulate in Istanbul. Khashoggi had left the building before he disappeared. "We have nothing to hide," Salman asserts.
6./7 October 2018
According to reports by the Reuters news agency, which cites sources in the Turkish government, Ankara assumes that Khashoggi was killed in the Saudi consulate. Officially, the Turkish government has only confirmed that an investigation has been opened.
Various Turkish and international media are now reporting that Khashoggi was tortured and killed in the consulate. A representative of the Turkish ruling party AKP told CNN Türk that Ankara has evidence that Khashoggi was murdered. Saudi Arabia firmly rejects these accusations.
8./9 October 2018
The pressure on Riyadh is growing. After a long period of silence, the American government speaks out on the case. "We call on the government of Saudi Arabia to support a thorough investigation into the disappearance of Mr Khashoggi," says US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Vice President Mike Pence wrote that he was "deeply troubled" by the journalist's disappearance. The USA also expects transparency from Riyadh in this investigation.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is also demanding that the Saudi authorities provide evidence for their version of events. If Saudi Arabia claims that the journalist left the consulate in Istanbul alive, "then the relevant authorities must prove it", said Erdogan. To emphasise the urgency of the demand, the Saudi ambassador in Ankara was summoned for the second time in a week.
Turkish investigators are authorised to search the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. According to the Turkish Foreign Ministry, the Saudi authorities have granted Ankara's request.
The New York Timesreports, citing Turkish security circles, that the fifteen-strong team of Saudi agents murdered Khashoggi in the consulate, then dismembered his body with a bone saw and presumably removed the remains from the consulate in suitcases.
10. October 2018
The evidence of a murder is mounting. According to a report in the Turkish government newspaper Sabah, the Turkish investigation is focussing primarily on the fifteen men who allegedly killed Khashoggi. According to the report and video footage shown on Turkish television, six cars carrying the fifteen Saudi government and secret service employees are said to have left the consulate grounds two and a half hours after Khashoggi entered the consulate.
A black Mercedes Vito with darkened windows and another vehicle drove to the consul general's residence 200 metres away, where they stayed for four hours. The Turkish employees of the Saudi consulate were unexpectedly told that day that they did not have to report for duty, Sabah writes.
11./12 October 2018
Video and audio recordings from the Saudi consulate are said to prove Khashoggi's murder. The Washington Postquotes an anonymous source who is said to have knowledge of the recordings. According to the source, the tapes prove that Khashoggi was first interrogated, then tortured and finally murdered.
The pro-government Turkish daily Milliyet also reports on audio recordings in which violent arguments and screams can be heard. According to the report, the recordings come from Khashoggi's smartwatch, which he is said to have been wearing when he entered the consulate. This had been paired with a mobile phone outside the consulate.
13. October 2018
US President Donald Trump threatens Riyadh with "severe penalties" if the reports of Khashoggi's murder are confirmed. In an interview, Trump hints that he believes the missing Saudi Arabian journalist is dead. However, the ongoing 110 billion dollar arms deal with Saudi Arabia should not be affected by any sanctions.
Turkey accuses Saudi Arabia of not cooperating sufficiently with the investigations. Foreign Minister Mevlüt Cavusoglu is once again calling on Riyadh to grant Turkish investigators access to the consulate in Istanbul. Despite assurances to the contrary, Saudi Arabia has so far not allowed access to the consulate.
14. October 2018
Riyadh reacts angrily to the threat of sanctions from Washington. The kingdom would "respond to any measure with a bigger one", the state news agency SPA quoted an official source as saying. The Kingdom rejects any attempt aimed at weakening it through threats of economic sanctions or political pressure, Riyadh said. Due to the threat from Washington, the Saudi stock exchange experienced its worst slump in three years on Sunday. Shares temporarily fell by seven percentage points.
In a joint statement, the foreign ministers of Germany, France and the UK urge Saudi Arabia to clarify Khashoggi's disappearance. "We take this incident extremely seriously," it says. A "detailed and comprehensive response" from the Saudi Arabian government is expected.
Turkish President Erdogan spoke to Saudi Crown Prince Salman for the first time since Khashoggi's disappearance. According to the Turkish news agency Anadolu, the phone call on Sunday evening is said to have been about the establishment of a joint working group to thoroughly investigate the case.
15. October 2018
Turkish and Saudi investigators search the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. They left the building again after nine hours, the Turkish state news agency Anadolu reported in the evening. According to the report, the investigators also took samples from the consulate's garden. In addition, two municipal rubbish lorries were driven into the consulate, although it was initially unclear why.
US President Trump telephoned Saudi King Salman on Monday evening to enquire about Khashoggi's whereabouts. According to the White House, Salman emphatically denied knowing what had happened to the journalist.
Trump also announces that US Secretary of State Pompeo will shortly be travelling to Riyadh and then on to Turkey.
16. October 2018
On Tuesday morning, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrives in Riyadh for talks with King Salman focussing on the fate of Khashoggi. A meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is scheduled for the evening. Pompeo plans to travel on to Turkey the next day.
The Saudi royal family continues to maintain that it has nothing to do with Khashoggi's disappearance.
Turkish forensic experts leave the Saudi consulate in Istanbul after an investigation lasting several hours. Turkish media later report that DNA traces pointing to Khashoggi's murder have been recovered.
17. October 2018
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo travels from Riyadh to Turkey. Before departing for Ankara, Pompeo explains that the Saudi dignitaries have assured him that they are also interested in an investigation and want to hold all those involved to account.
In Ankara, Pompeo meets with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Turkish counterpart Mevlüt Cavusoglu. Few details are known about the content of the talks.
Meanwhile, Turkish media are reporting that traces of DNA pointing to Khashoggi's murder have been found in the Saudi consulate.
The pro-government Turkish daily Sabah also published footage from surveillance cameras that allegedly show the alleged leader of the fifteen-strong "hit squad" that killed Khashoggi. It is said to be a man named Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb. Mutreb was allegedly a diplomat in the past. A list from the British Foreign Office from 2007 lists him as First Secretary at the Saudi embassy in London. Mutreb has accompanied the Saudi crown prince on several of his trips abroad this year, according to research by the New York Times. Pictures show him in Boston in March and in Madrid, Paris and Houston in April, always just a few metres away from the heir to the throne.
Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb, according to media reports a Saudi diplomat with direct links to the crown prince, is said to have entered the consulate in Istanbul a few hours before Khashoggi, according to video footage published by Turkish media. © picture alliance / AA / Istanbul Police Department / Handout
In addition, more and more details about the alleged audio recordings in Turkish possession are leaking to the public. According to several media reports, they show how the forensics expert in the fifteen-strong delegation that travelled from Riyadh to Istanbul shortly before Khashoggi's disappearance advised his colleagues to listen to music while he dissected Khashoggi's body.
US President Trump is still reluctant to condemn the Saudi royal family. They are presumed innocent until proven guilty, he explained in an interview. Trump expects to have answers about Khashoggi's disappearance by the end of the week.
18. October 2018
President Trump changes his tone. He now believes Khashoggi is dead. Intelligence information from several sources indicates that the journalist was murdered by a high-ranking Saudi commando, Trump tells journalists from the New York Times. Trump also admits that the Khashoggi case is one of the biggest foreign policy crises of his presidency. The accusations against the kingdom called into question the USA's alliance with Saudi Arabia.
As a further sign of the change in American attitude, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin cancels his participation in "Davos in the Desert". The investor conference planned for the following week was intended to present the kingdom as a forward-looking economic powerhouse. In the wake of the Khashoggi affair, Mnuchin had already received numerous cancellations, including those from the finance ministers of the UK, France and the Netherlands. Christine Lagarde, the head of the International Monetary Fund, has also cancelled her participation.
The US Secretary of State is also back in Washington after his visits to Riyadh and Ankara. Pompeo told journalists that the Saudis have been given a few more days to finalise their investigation. According to the American media, Washington has set Riyadh a deadline of three days to provide clarity. The first rumours are circulating that Saudi Arabia is considering a partial confession.
20. October 2018
A dramatic U-turn early on Saturday morning: The Saudi government admits that Khashoggi was violently killed in the Istanbul consulate. However, the kingdom presents the journalist's death as an accident. Khashoggi was killed unintentionally during an argument that degenerated into a "fistfight".
According to official information from Riyadh, five government representatives have been dismissed and 18 suspects have been arrested. They are apparently being used as scapegoats to exonerate the suspected crown prince.
The USA declares that it will closely monitor the further course of the Saudi criminal investigation. On the way to an election campaign appearance, US President Trump says that he believes it is entirely possible that the crown prince knew nothing about the murder. In an interview with the Washington Post , Trump later said: "Of course there was deception and lies". At the same time, however, Trump defends Saudi Arabia as an "incredible ally" and calls the Saudi crown prince "a strong person".
The reactions of other countries to the Saudi statement on the death of Khashoggi are characterised by great scepticism. EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini calls for "comprehensive, credible and transparent investigations".
21. October 2018
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir tries to dispel doubts about Riyadh's version of Khashoggi's death. In an interview with the American broadcaster Fox News, Mr Jubeir said that the royal family would do everything in its power to clarify the circumstances of the death and bring the perpetrators to justice. An enormous and serious mistake had been made. "It is a terrible tragedy." Jubeir denies that the royal family, and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in particular, gave the order to abduct or even murder Khashoggi.
Turkish President Erdogan has promised detailed statements on the case on Tuesday. Representatives of the ruling AKP party had already declared the day before that they would not tolerate any cover-ups.
The German government is currently ruling out further German arms exports to Saudi Arabia due to the inconsistencies surrounding Khashoggi's death. Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Sunday evening that arms exports could not take place "in the state we are in at the moment".
23. October 2018
The Turkish president makes his eagerly awaited appearance before parliament in Ankara. There is no doubt that it was a planned and ordered murder, says Erdogan. While defending Saudi King Salman, he hints that he suspects Crown Prince Mohammed of having ordered the murder.
Erdogan describes the sequence of events as reconstructed by the investigators. He mentions, for example, the travelling times of the 15 Saudi nationals who are believed to be responsible for Khashoggi's killing. He also points out that in the run-up to the crime, a wooded area near Istanbul was inspected as a possible place to dispose of the body. The Saudi commando also included a man who resembled Khashoggi in age and stature. The body double had left the consulate after the crime wearing the clothes of the deceased. Erdogan's statements contradict the Saudi version of a failed kidnapping attempt, of which the Saudi leadership had no knowledge.
The Turkish president has specific demands: He wants the members of the special commando arrested in Saudi Arabia to be handed over. Erdogan also wants Riyadh to answer a number of questions, including: Why was it only possible to search the consulate two weeks after Khashoggi's disappearance? Where is the body? Who are the local accomplices in Istanbul that Saudi Arabia is talking about?
Later on Tuesday, the American government announces that it has taken initial punitive measures against 21 Saudi suspects. According to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, these are people in the intelligence services, from the royal court and from several ministries. Their visas will either be revoked or they will be declared ineligible for an entry visa to the USA.
26. October 2018
In a recent U-turn, the Saudi Attorney General has described the murder of Jamal Khashoggi as a premeditated act. With this latest statement, Saudi Arabia is moving closer to the Turkish account. Salah Khashoggi, Jamal Khashoggi's eldest son, has been given permission to travel to the USA to see his siblings. The court had prevented him from leaving the country for several months.
30. October 2018
Turkey does not want to hand over important evidence to the Saudi in the Khashoggi murder case. This became clear after the meeting between Saudi Attorney General Saud al-Mojeb and Turkish Chief Public Prosecutor Irfan Fidan in Istanbul. According to pro-government Turkish media, Mojeb's main concern was to find out what Turkey knew about possible connections between the perpetrators in the Khashoggi case and the very top, i.e. the Saudi crown prince.
31. October 2018
The Turkish public prosecutor's office speaks out for the first time in the Khashoggi murder case. The Turkish chief investigator confirms that the journalist was the victim of a treacherous murder. The body was then dismembered and destroyed, which was also planned from the outset.
5. November 2018
In an interview, Khashoggi's sons called for clarification. "I hope that whatever happened to him was not painful or that it was over quickly," Abdallah Khashoggi, one of the two sons, told CNN. He also called for his father's remains to be returned to Saudi Arabia. Because as long as the body has not been found, the sons said, it is not possible for the family to mourn. On Friday, an adviser to Turkish President Erdogan said that Khashoggi's body had been dissolved in acid. The Saudi had previously claimed that a "local collaborator" had taken away the body, which was wrapped in a carpet.
10. November 2018
Turkey has shared footage related to the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi with a number of countries, including Germany. Saudi Arabia, the USA, France and the UK are also among the recipients. According to Turkish President Erdogan, the countries "have heard the (recorded) conversations and are aware of them".
3. January 2019
A trial begins in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh against eleven suspects in the Khashoggi case, although their names are not made public. Five of the defendants are accused of being directly involved in the murder. The death penalty is being demanded for them. Neither the public prosecutor general nor the Saudi Arabian state media provided more detailed information about the start of the trial. Who the defendants are also remained in the dark.
19. June 2019
The UN rapporteur on arbitrary executions, Agnès Callamard, sees "credible evidence" of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's possible personal responsibility for the killing of journalist Khashoggi. Callamard calls for an international investigation to clarify the question of guilt.
23. December 2019
Court in Saudi Arabia sentences five defendants to death. Three other defendants were sentenced to prison terms totalling 24 years for "concealing the crime". Just over a year after the murder, Riyadh has thus named several guilty parties, but is still keeping their names under wraps.
The crown prince's confidant and high-ranking government employee Saud al-Kahtani had previously been accused of helping to organise the crime. According to the public prosecutor's office, he was questioned but not charged due to a lack of evidence of his possible involvement. Mohamed al-Otaibi, Saudi consul general in Istanbul at the time of the murder, was also not charged. Eyewitnesses had confirmed that he was off duty on the day in question.
The trial against a total of eleven - unnamed - Saudi men has been running in Riyadh since January and ended after ten hearings. Khashoggi's two sons and their lawyers as well as representatives of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council (USA, France, UK, Russia and China) and Turkey attended the hearings. All judgements are subject to appeal. The names of those convicted will only be made public once the case has been finally heard and the judgements are final.
The UN special rapporteur on the case, Agnès Callamard, criticised the verdict as a "farce". She compared it to the murder of journalist Caruana Galizia in Malta in October 2017, saying that the mere fact that a forensic doctor was part of the killing team at least 24 hours before the crime indicated early planning.
25. March 2020
In Istanbul, Turkey, charges are brought against 20 suspects. The Istanbul public prosecutor's office announced on 25 March that 18 defendants were accused of premeditated murder under torture. Two further suspects are accused of instigating the murder. A trial date was not initially announced.
One of the main suspects who is said to have planned the offence is Saud bin Abdullah al-Kahtani. He was responsible for media affairs at the Saudi royal court and was dismissed on the night that Riyadh admitted Khashoggi's death. Al-Kahtani is considered a close confidant of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
22. May 2020
Jamal Khashoggi's sons announce on Twitter that they forgive the perpetrators. This paves the way for their probable pardon and release. Khashoggi's fiancée Hatice Cengiz, on the other hand, declares that "no one has the right to pardon their murderers".
3. July 2020
20 defendants, all Saudi Arabian nationals, are tried in absentia in Istanbul. They were represented by lawyers from the Istanbul Bar Association. The Istanbul public prosecutor's office is accusing Saudi Arabia's former deputy intelligence chief and the former close media advisor to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saud al-Kahtani, of instigating the murder of Khashoggi. The public prosecutor's office accuses the 18 other men of carrying out the crime.
7. September 2020
A court in Saudi Arabia sentences eight defendants to between seven and 20 years in prison in camera. Three other defendants were acquitted. However, the trial was held in camera and in no way met the requirements of the rule of law. Three other defendants, including high-ranking Saudi Arabian officials, were acquitted.
2. March 2021
Following the murder of Jamal Khashoggi and the arbitrary detention of 34 journalists, Reporters Without Borders files a criminal complaint against Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for crimes against humanity with the Federal Public Prosecutor General.
4. March 2021
The court in Istanbul rejects the application by Khashoggi's fiancée Hatice Cengiz to admit the recently published report by the US intelligence agency CIA as evidence. The report names Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as the person responsible for Khashoggi's murder.
2. October 2021
The organisation "Freedom First" organises a memorial ceremony in Washington in front of the US Congress to mark the third anniversary of Jamal Khashoggi's death. His fiancée Hatice Cengiz, who has been trying to bring the perpetrators to justice since his death, takes part.
7. April 2022
After 21 months, the 11th High Criminal Court in Istanbul closes the trial in the murder of Saudi Arabian columnist Jamal Khashoggi and hands the case over to Saudi Arabia.
28. July 2022
The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, visits the European Union for the first time since the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. US President Joe Biden has also resumed diplomatic relations.
24. September 2022
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz travels to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. In Saudi Arabia, he meets Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.