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LAST UPDATE | 13 Oct 2018
US PRESIDENT DONALD Trump has threatened Riyadh with “severe punishment” if a journalist was killed inside its Istanbul consulate, as Saudi officials were to hold talks in Turkey about his fate.
With the mystery over Jamal Khashoggi unresolved 11 days after he walked into the consulate and failed to reappear, a pro-government Turkish daily said the Saudi national had recorded his own interrogation inside the mission on an Apple Watch.
Turkish officials have said they believe Khashoggi was killed inside the consulate and lurid claims have been leaked to media that he was tortured and even dismembered.
Saudi insists Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributor whose writings have been critical of powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, left the building safely but has yet to offer visual evidence of this.
The outcry surrounding his disappearance threatens to not just harm brittle Turkey-Saudi relations but also alarm the kingdom’s supporters in the West and tarnish the reform drive spearheaded by the crown prince.
“We’re going to get to the bottom of it and there will be severe punishment,” Trump told CBS’s “60 Minutes” program, according to an extract of an interview that was released on today.
“As of this moment, they (Saudi) deny it and they deny it vehemently. Could it be them? Yes,” Trump said in the interview, which was conducted on Thursday.
60 Minutes / Twitter"There will be severe punishment." In his first 60 Minutes interview since taking office, President Trump tells Lesley Stahl that if Saudi Arabia is found to be responsible for journalist Jamal Khashoggi's death, there will be consequences. https://t.co/BRZfIPHbNY pic.twitter.com/s6X98AylBR
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) October 13, 2018
But he again voiced his reluctance to limit US arms sales to the kingdom, which analysts see as one of Washington’s key potential levers.
Trump, who has become notorious for his attacks on American journalists, added the matter was especially important “because this man was a reporter”.
’Sensational claims’
The Saudi delegation was in Turkey and due to have talks this weekend in Ankara and take part in a working group on the disappearance, official Turkish media said. The NTV channel said the 11 person delegation had on Friday inspected the consulate in Istanbul.
Riyadh has warmly welcomed the creation of the working group but Interior Minister Prince Abdel Aziz bin Saud bin Nayef slammed claims that the kingdom ordered Khashoggi to be killed inside the consulate.
He described the allegations as “baseless allegations and lies”.
Ankara has so far trodden carefully in the controversy, with the most sensational allegations splashed in the pro-government press but President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has so far stopped short of directly accusing Riyadh of wrongdoing.
Turkey and Saudi have an uneasy relationship, with disputes over the ousting of the Islamist government in Egypt and the blockade imposed on Ankara’s ally Qatar.
But Erdogan has generally been wary of needling the oil-rich conservative kingdom and today again gave a long speech to supporters without mentioning the issue.
The spokesman of Erdogan’s ruling party, Omer Celik, acknowledged Saturday that there were “extremely sensational claims” about Khashoggi’s fate in the media and said there would be “severe consequences” for anyone found responsible if they were true.
“Far from the speculation, work is being carried out in the most sensitive way to find out what happened,” he said in televised comments.
‘Recorded by Apple Watch’
The latest claims reported by the pro-government Sabah daily said that Khashoggi had been wearing an Apple Watch when he entered the consulate which was synced with an iPhone left outside with his fiancee Hatice Cengiz.
It said that the watch had recorded what happened inside the consulate and this was uploaded to his cloud, although Saudis sought to partially delete it.
“The moments of Khashoggi’s questioning, torture and killing were recorded on the Apple watch,” said Sabah.
Analysts say that Turkey is hoping to find support from its NATO ally the United States in the case, although Ankara-Washington have been in crisis over the detention for the last two years of a Protestant pastor.
But the pastor, Andrew Brunson, was freed on Friday and allowed to fly home by a Turkish court, in a move that could help normalise ties.
’Horrified’ but still attending
Meanwhile, Prince Mohammed’s big October conference – the Future Investment Initiative dubbed by media as the “Davos in the Desert” after the annual conference in the Swiss resort – has suffered a litany of cancellations over the controversy.
Key business figures like the chief executive of ride-hailing app Uber – into which the Saudi’s own investment fund injected money — are no longer showing up while media groups like the New York Times, Financial Times and Bloomberg have pulled their sponsorship.
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Saturday that he still planned to attend, as did IMF chief Christine Lagarde.
She said she was “horrified” by the case but has to “conduct the business of the IMF in all corners in the world and with many governments”.
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Good to see the US adopting this type of system, the lottery was a bit of a joke in fairness, just so random and seemed like a lazy/handy way of doing things for them. Seems really tough to immigrate into the US nowadays.
That’s true, I was fortunate enough to win a green card through the lottery system…but it was completely random, you could be a computer scientist from Bogota or a sheep herder from Armenia, it made no sense really. This seems like a much better system.
Even when you got your random green card in the lottery you still had to attend the Embassy for an interview so possibly a lot of weeding out was done then?
That’s true, but all you required was a job offer in official headed paper from a company and that was it…easy to make one up if you had to!
Not necessary if you have degree or/and masters in an employable profession. Subtle weeding out.
At the time I didn’t have a degree and went with my letter of an offer of employment which was acceptable. If I was bullshitting I would have got away with it, how I know was because it was my friends company and there was no check.
I am guessing that may have a while go? Perhaps they check more throughly now?
It was 2001. Maybe they do. Border Control has stiffened considerably since 2005…so maybe you’re right. I moved home in 2006.
Just as a matter of interest, if you don’t mind me asking. Just wondering why you decided to move back home. Don’t answer if you dont want I know it’s a personal question.
Ha! Youre close enough Sean!!!
I find I’m asking myself that question a lot lately McBab….I spent a few years there and decided to move back, family I suppose had a bit to do with it. I had a great time there, really lived it. If you are willing to work in the States, you will get on fine. The working man is rewarded. If you want to sit on your hole, you don’t eat, simple as. A policy they could do with having a look at here. To be honest, I would move back in the morn, but my wife would not… Added to a mortgage, young kids etc here its just not an option unfortunately….
Thanks for the reply Jimmy. So refreshing to have a civilised conversation on this site!
Seems the age category doesn’t make sense It is a kind of discrimination
I agree. Not sure why this ism is ok and gender and race isms are deemed unacceptable.
Err.. Because they prefer to let in young people? I’d get no points for age myself but get it and have no problem with it.
Would it be ok to let in just white people? Or just men?
It makes perfect sense for them too give preference to younger people. Younger people will be in the work force for longer, thus generating taxes and revenue for the government longer.
It’s logical to limit immigration to those who can be more productive and and bring value to the country, rather than become a burden. It is a transaction, not a gift: we let you in, you came and work hard and (possibly, at least initially) cheap, we all benefit in the end.
Above all though, it is their country, their rules. They don’t have to adhere to our political correctness, as much as we might feel righteous about our opinion on it.
It’s called independence.
It’s really sad to see some of us calling African Shit holes …….. Some of us are here legally just for studies and we are benefiting this country by paying huge school fees
Am alway heartbroken when people think that all Africans are Asylum seekers or refugees :-( and i remember when i first arrived in Ireland and stayed for 3 months someone whom i don’t know sent me a text saying “You are fraudulent Asylum Seeker Scamming our country …. Go back to Africa”
it’s really sad.
Unfortuntely ISSA a lot of africans are absolutely bleeding this country for what its worth. Its a national disgrace and no one has the balls to to stand up to it for fear of being targeted as being racist/bigot etc. I dont believe anyone has a problem with genuine students and workers.
I do agree with you Jason …… That some of Africans have damaged our image thurs making everyone think that all African are here to Abuse the system.
Personally am ashamed to be black coz av experienced hard times since i came here for my studies with other people brandishing me names lol.
Not all africans are out to scam this country or take it for a ride. I have the pleasure of knowing some who are really successful here.
But as Jason pointed out there is alot more scamming than actually been good citizens.
Until that trend reverses the African people who are not out to scam etc are going to be labeled with the same tag.
I do get your point …… But am just puzzled on how those people manage to come in Ireland and abuse the system lol.
I remember when i was applying for my Irish student Visa back home in Kenya i really passed through various difficulty process to get my Visa and i had to produce loads and loads of documents and went through serious vetting and on top of that i was required to do an International English proficiency test to prove that i can speak English lol
Does it mean that some countries get their visas so easily???? coz some are here and ain’t speaking English and there are the one tarnishing our name here
Issa . Quite a few africans come in as refugees depending on the country in Africa.
Lock up the illegals.
+1
Nope, just send em home
about time!
Well this is good news for the irish a nation of hard working people when we go to other country’s we dont go their to sponge of that said country we work hard integrate into their society’s spend our money their while still retaining out culture and having the “craic”
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