Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince's adviser ordered Khashoggi's assassination via Skype?
Saud al-Qahtani, a media adviser to the Saudi Crown Prince, has been responsible for hundreds of arrests of Saudi officials. According to two intelligence sources, he used Skype to remotely direct the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, Türkiye.
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| Saud al-Qahtani (left), media adviser to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (right), is believed to be behind the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.Photo cut from clip on Youtube |
According to Reuters, on October 20, Saudi Arabian media reported that King Salman had fired Qahtani and four other officials. Previously, Saudi Arabia had arrested 18 suspects and fired a series of intelligence officials.
However, according to several sources with ties to the Royal Court, because of his close relationship and influence with Crown Prince Mohammed, it will be difficult for Saudi Arabian officials to identify Qahtani as the mastermind of the murder without raising questions about the involvement of Crown Prince Mohammed (MbS).
“It won’t topple MbS, but his image will take a long time to recover. The king is protecting him,” one of the sources said. Qahtani has previously said he would not do anything without his superiors’ permission.
“You think I make decisions without direction. I am just a hired hand and must obey the orders of the king and the crown prince,” Qahtani shared on Twitter last summer.
Qahtani has not yet commented on the information that he was the mastermind of the journalist's murder. His Twitter profile has also been changed from Royal Advisor to Chairman of the Saudi Cyber Security Federation - a position he previously held.
Meanwhile, a Saudi Arabian official said on October 20 that Crown Prince Mohammed had no knowledge of the plot leading to Khashoggi's death and clearly "did not order the kidnapping or killing of anyone."
During the three weeks of the crisis, Saudi Arabia has repeatedly changed its statements regarding the fate of journalist Khashoggi, first denying that he was dead, then saying he died in a fight at the Consulate, and now determining the cause of his death was suffocation due to being strangled from behind.
A senior Saudi official said the killers were trying to cover up what happened. Meanwhile, Turkey has rejected Saudi Arabia's version of events, saying it has audio recordings of the entire process of Khashoggi's murder.
Skype call
Khashoggi, a Washington Post journalist who frequently wrote articles critical of Saudi Arabia and its leaders, entered the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul on October 2 to obtain documents for his wedding.
Turkish security officials said he was immediately arrested inside the consulate by about 15 Saudi intelligence officers who had arrived in Istanbul on two planes two hours earlier.
According to an Arab intelligence source, Qahtani learned about the situation in the Turkish consulate via Skype. On the phone, Qahtani began to insult Khashoggi, at one point telling his henchmen: “Bring me his head.”
Arab and Turkish intelligence sources say the audio of the Skype conversation is now in the possession of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan. The sources claim that President Erdogan has refused to share the audio with the Americans.
In a speech to the Turkish Parliament on October 23, President Erdogan said that the murder of journalist Khashoggi was a plot to assassinate the Saudi side in detail in advance. All security cameras in the Consulate and the Consul General's private residence were removed before the murder.
Prince's Communications Adviser
With his bold media propaganda and behind-the-scenes strategic talent, Qahtani, 40, has been dubbed the “Steve Bannon” of Saudi Arabia - a former key strategist of US President Donald Trump.
Qahtani studied law and served as a captain in the Saudi Air Force. After blogging, he caught the eye of Khaled al-Tuwaijri, the former head of the royal court. Tuwaijri hired Qahtani in the early 2000s to head electronic communications, tasked with protecting Saudi Arabia’s image.
Qahtani built his influence after becoming acquainted with Crown Prince Mohammed, who served on the royal court council as mayor of Riyadh before being chosen to become crown prince.
Qahtani, tasked with curbing Qatar’s influence on social media, has used Twitter as a weapon to attack comments critical of the kingdom in general and Crown Prince Mohammed in particular. Qahtani also runs a WhatsApp group for local editors and veteran reporters.
When Riyadh launched an economic boycott against Qatar in June 2017, Qahtani stepped up his online attacks on the Gulf state. Senior Saudi officials said Qahtani was dubbed Prince Mohammed's "bad cop" when 200 people, including Saudi princes, ministers and business tycoons, were arrested and placed under house arrest at the Ritz Carlton in an anti-corruption crackdown./.
