Saudi Prince told aide he would use 'a bullet' on Khashoggi: NYT

New York: Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told a top aide in 2017 that he would use "a bullet" on Jamal Khashoggi, a journalist who was murdered last October, if the latter did not return to the Kingdom and end his criticism of the Saudi government, a New York Times report said. The conversation, intercepted by American intelligence agencies, is the most detailed evidence to date that the Crown Prince considered killing Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington post, long before a team of Saudi operatives murdered him inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018, and dismembered his body using a bone saw, the report said on Thursday.

According to informed officials, the conversation that took place between Prince Mohammed and the aide, Turki Aldakhil in September 2017, has been transcribed and analysed as part of an effort by intelligence agencies to find proof of who was responsible for Khashoggi's death. The National Security Agency (NSA) and other American intelligence agencies are now sifting through years of the Crown Prince's voice and text communications that the NSA routinely intercepted and stored, The New York Times quoted the officials as saying. In the conversation, Prince Mohammed said that if Khashoggi could not be enticed back to Saudi Arabia, then he should be returned by force. If neither of those methods worked, the Crown Prince said, then he would go after the slain journalist "with a bullet".

The Crown Prince Mohammed said that Khashoggi's articles and Twitter posts were tarnishing his image as a forward-thinking reformer. Responding to the report, Aldakhil said on Thursday night: "These allegations are categorically false. They appear to be a continuation of various efforts by different parties to connect His Royal Highness Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to this horrific crime. These efforts will prove futile."

UN rapporteur Agnes Callamard presented preliminary findings on Thursday saying that Khashoggi's murder was the consequence of a plan hatched by officials of the Kingdom. "Evidence collected during my mission to Turkey shows prima facie case that Khashoggi was the victim of a brutal and premeditated killing, planned and perpetrated by officials of the State of Saudi Arabia" Callamard said. (IANS)

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