Journalist Jamal Khashoggi was placed on the study table of the Saudi consul-general in Istanbul before, while still alive, he was dismembered with a bonesaw by a high-ranking forensic evidence expert from Riyadh who listened to music on earphones as he went about his grisly work, Middle East Eye (MEE) reported a Turkish source as relating on October 16.

Horrendous screams were heard by a witness downstairs at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul but the screaming stopped when Khashoggi was drugged with an as yet unknown substance, the London-based publication reported its source, who claimed to have heard an audio recording of the Riyadh critic’s last moments, as saying. An account of the sequence of events in the pro-Turkish government daily Yeni Safak claimed that the journalist was beaten by Saudi agents and had his fingers cut off very soon after entering the office of the consul-general.

On October 17, MEE reported that seven of the 15 men suspected of being involved in the alleged operation to kill Khashoggi—a self-exiled Saudi journalist who went to the consulate on October 2 to attend to paperwork related to his intention to remarry—belong to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s personal security and protection detail.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo came under fire for his jovial demeanour during his meetings in Riyadh, from where on October 17 he shuttled to Ankara to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.

The leaks to the media over what evidence Turkey claims to hold in relation to the fate of Khashoggi are almost certainly being directed by senior officials of the Turkish government, which has a tight control over the domestic media. There was an initial flurry of leaks after Khashoggi's disappearance, then a lull. In the past two days, that lull has been followed by another round of leaks, which might indicate that Ankara is displeased so far by the approach the Americans and Saudis are taking to settling the affair.

Horrific seven minutes
Turkish officials have briefed media that they have both audio and video recordings from the seven minutes in the consulate during which Khashoggi was allegedly murdered in an horrific fashion. Turkey—presently facing economic turmoil and involved in disagreements with both the Saudis and the White House over how to bring the Syria conflict to a conclusion—is now in a good position to extract concessions from the Americans and their major Middle East ally Saudi Arabia as the three parties work on finding a palatable exit for Riyadh from the scandal. There were reports on October 17 that Ankara has given a copy of the audio recording to the US.

The Saudis have categorically denied that the crown prince or King Salman had any knowledge of an operation to murder Khashoggi—who was resident in Washington after fleeing his homeland and wrote for titles including The Washington Post—and have threatened retaliation should Saudi Arabia be punished with sanctions over the affair.

After meeting with Erdogan and Cavusoglu, Pompeo told a media briefing that the US was not giving Riyadh the “benefit of the doubt” over the disappearance of Khashoggi, but he made it clear that the Trump administration would take commercial ties and Saudi cooperation in the attempted isolation of Iran into consideration when devising a response to the events.

Before meeting Pompeo, Erdogan told media that Turkish police had found freshly painted walls and “toxic” substances during a search of the consulate.

“He [Erdogan] made clear that the Saudis had cooperated with the investigation that the Turks are engaged in, and that they are going to share information that they learned with the Saudis as well,” Pompeo said. “There had been a couple of delays but they seemed pretty confident that the Saudis would permit them to do the things they needed to do to complete their thorough and complete investigation.”

Pompeo also spoke of a serious commitment in Riyadh to “determine all the facts and ensure accountability”.

“Innocent until proven guilty”
In an interview with The Associated Press, US President Donald Trump—who last week said that he would not place his country’s multi-billion-dollar arms deals with the Saudis in jeopardy in his response to the Khashoggi affair—stated that Riyadh had again denied it had anything to do with the journalist’s disappearance and remained “innocent until proven guilty”.

The suspects’ direct links to the Saudi establishment, as reported by MEE and the New York Times, weaken the suggestion made by Trump after a phone call with King Salman that the alleged murder might have been perpetrated by “rogue killers” in an unauthorised operation.

The G7 foreign ministers said in a statement on October 17 that they remained “very troubled” by Khashoggi’s disappearance.

“We, the G7 foreign ministers, of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and the high representative of the European Union, affirm our commitment to defending freedom of expression and protection of a free press,” they said.

“Those bearing responsibility for his disappearance must be held to account. We encourage Turkish-Saudi collaboration and look forward to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia conducting a thorough, credible, transparent, and prompt investigation, as announced.”