Khashoggi's fiancee could have been second victim – Turkish police

"The guard did not mention to the Saudis inside the consulate that Khashoggi had someone waiting for him outside. If he had, there were two possibilities," said a latest report released by Istanbul Police Directorate.

Hatice Cengiz, fiancee of Jamal Khashoggi gestures as she speaks to reporters on February 8, 2019 during a presentation press conference of her book named "Jamal Khashoggi" in Istanbul.
AFP

Hatice Cengiz, fiancee of Jamal Khashoggi gestures as she speaks to reporters on February 8, 2019 during a presentation press conference of her book named "Jamal Khashoggi" in Istanbul.

The Istanbul Police Directorate revealed shocking details about the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, saying that his fiancee Hatice Cengiz would have likely been the Saudi assassination squad's second victim had she been at the consulate.

In its 2018 annual report, the directorate said that the guard in front of the consulate could have been the key to Khashoggi's salvation but also could have been Cengiz's ticket to the other side with Khashoggi.

"The guard did not mention to the Saudis inside the consulate that Khashoggi had someone waiting for him outside. If he had, there were two possibilities," the police said.

The report also stated that Saudi Arabia's Istanbul Consulate had two water wells and a natural gas and wood fired tandoor oven.

If the tandoor oven was used with both heating sources then the temperature inside could have easily reached 1,000 degrees Celcius, effectively leaving no traces of DNA behind.

In another chilling revelation, police found that the Saudi assassination squad had ordered 32 portions of raw meat after the deed, strengthening suspicions that they got rid of the journalist's body by burning it.

Khashoggi was killed and dismembered by a group of Saudi operatives in the country's consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018.

Initially denying and later downplaying the incident as an accidental killing in a fistfight, almost three weeks after the disappearance, Riyadh finally admitted that Khashoggi was murdered in a premeditated action but denied any involvement of the royal family.

The incident was blamed on lower-level officials. A Saudi public prosecutor's spokesman said that 21 Saudis had been taken into custody over the case, 11 of whom had been indicted and referred to trial. 

The prosecutor has said that the authorities were seeking the death penalty for five of the 11 suspects.

Despite more than 100 days passing since Khashoggi's assassination, the whereabouts of his body remain unknown.

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