Audio confirms Jamal Khashoggi was tortured and dismembered, paper

ISTANBUL, 18 Oct. - (ANA)  - ‘Sawed while still alive’? Gruesome ‘taped’ details of Khashoggi’s alleged murder cause media stir after a Turkish daily said it obtained a recording from the Saudi consulate in Istanbul related to journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a London-based outlet published an ultra-graphic description of his alleged murder and dismemberment.

A three-minute audio recording of Khashoggi’s said to reveal what happened to him at the Saudi consulate has been leaked to the Turkish daily Sabah, but the paper has yet to release it. It is said to have been recorded by the journalist’s Apple Watch.

The leaking of such details, on the same day Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was visiting Turkey, reflected an escalation of pressure by the Turkish government on Saudi Arabia and the United States for answers on the fate of Mr. Khashoggi, a prominent dissident journalist who wrote for The Washington Post.

But the London-based Middle East Eye claims to know what’s on the tape citing a source. It alleges the journalist was dragged into a study, where he was dismembered with a bone saw while he was still alive. The source also cites alleged witnesses hearing harrowing screams which only stopped, according to the claims, when the journalist was drugged with an unknown substance.

Salah Muhammad al-Tubaigy, the head of forensic evidence in the Saudi general security department, was singled out, as he can reportedly be heard in the recording urging his colleagues to listen to music while dismembering Khashoggi’s body with a bone saw.

The task took some “seven minutes” to complete. Sabah claimed that the Saudi officials then tried to delete the recordings first by trying to guess Khashoggi’s PIN on the watch, then using the journalist’s finger. This detail has raised suspicions since Apple Watches do not have a fingerprint-enabled unlock mechanism.

And while it’s true that an Apple Watch can theoretically sync with a nearby iPhone if the devices share a Bluetooth connection, Sabah did not elaborate on how the alleged recordings found their way out of the Saudi consulate.

This recording is said to be reviewed by the Turkish investigators, who have so far neither confirmed nor denied its existence. Khashoggi’s fiancée, who was waiting outside the consulate and could potentially have received the haunting audio files, has made no mention of any recordings.

Khashoggi was last seen entering the Saudi consulate on October 2, on an administrative errand to get documents to allow for him to get married.

Tubaigy is one of five suspects so far identified by Turkish police as part of their investigation into the disappearance and killing. The others are said to have links to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman.