Al Jazeera's New Report on Khashoggi's 'Murder': 'Severed Head' Taken to Riyadh

Al Jazeera reported new details regarding the murder of Saudi critic Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, stating that his body was burned in an oven at the residence of the Saudi consul. In a documentary aired on Sunday, March 3, titled 'Where is the Body?', it was suggested that Khashoggi's severed head was transported to Saudi Arabia in one of the suitcases of the Saudi assassination team. This report referenced the words of a Syrian man living in Turkey who played a role in constructing a high-temperature oven at the Saudi consul's residence. Khashoggi, who had lived in the U.S. but was not a citizen, entered the Saudi consulate on October 2 to obtain an official document regarding his divorce from his first wife in order to marry his Turkish fiancée, Hatice Cengiz. While Cengiz waited for him outside the consulate, he never emerged. Saudi Arabia vehemently denied involvement in the crime for days, but after 17 days, it acknowledged his death, labeling the murder as the act of a 'rogue team' resulting from an 'unintentional altercation.' Khashoggi's body was never recovered, and Turkish officials emphasized that his remains were dismembered. Al Jazeera's new report, citing investigations by the Turkish criminal team, revealed that a large oven installed in the yard of the residence of Mohammed Al-Otaibi, the Saudi consul in Istanbul, could reach temperatures exceeding a thousand degrees, capable of melting iron and steel. The oven's builder, whose face was concealed and voice altered, stated that the consul had requested an oven with specific features capable of roasting a whole sheep, and it had been installed months before Khashoggi's murder. The worker noted that he was asked to make the dimensions and temperature of the oven and gas pipes twice the standard of regular ovens. Investigations showed that this oven was continuously operational for three days after the dismembered parts of Khashoggi's body were transferred to the consul's residence. According to Al Jazeera, on the night of Khashoggi's murder, Saudi consulate employees ordered 45 kilograms of meat from a restaurant in Istanbul, which was also burned along with the dismembered pieces of Khashoggi's body to eliminate evidence. The Turkish criminal investigation team pointed out that the oven was operational for three days, despite the fact that shortly after the journalist did not exit the Saudi consulate, both the consulate and the consul's residence were under close surveillance by Turkish security agencies. However, since these diplomatic sites are considered foreign soil, they had not yet entered. Al Jazeera's emphasis that this oven was constructed months before Khashoggi's murder could reinforce the notion that luring this journalist to Istanbul and killing him had been planned long in advance. The report also recalled that the head of Saudi intelligence, in a Skype conversation with members of the assassination team, instructed them to bring Khashoggi's head to Saudi Arabia; media reports indicate that Turkish intelligence possesses this Skype footage. While Saudi Arabia labeled the assassination team sent to Istanbul as 'rogue,' many members of this team were previously close associates of Mohammed bin Salman, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, and were considered among his advisors, bodyguards, and allies. A team of Saudis sent by King Salman to Turkey initially cooperated with Turkish legal authorities, but Turkey has not yet agreed to extradite members of this team, a matter that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan insists upon. Al Jazeera's new report also stated that Mohammed bin Salman continues to oppose the Turkish intelligence chief's request for greater Saudi cooperation in uncovering the truth behind Khashoggi's murder, calling the request an 'unacceptable threat.' Saudi Arabia has stated that Ahmed Asiri, the head of its intelligence agency, and Saud al-Qahtani, a senior advisor to the Crown Prince, were dismissed in connection with this murder, and 18 others were arrested and tried, with some sentenced to retribution.