Khashoggi Murder: Saudi prince discribed jounalist as a dangerous Islamist

According to the media reports Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told the US he considered murdered writer Jamal Khashoggi to be a dangerous Islamist. Prince Mohammed reportedly said this in a phone call with the White House after Khashoggi disappeared but before Saudi Arabia admitted killing him.

Saudi Arabia has denied the reports in the Washington Post.

Khashoggi, a Saudi national working for the US press, was a well-known critic of Saudi Arabia's de-facto ruler, Mohammed Bin Salman.

His body has not yet been found, but Turkey, the US and Saudi Arabia have all agreed that he was killed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on 2 October.

Washington Post reported that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman described slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi as a dangerous Islamist days after his disappearance in a phone call with President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and national security adviser John Bolton, according to people familiar with the discussion.

In the call, which occurred before the kingdom publicly acknowledged Khashoggi’s death, the crown prince urged Kushner and Bolton to preserve the U.S.-Saudi alliance and said the journalist was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, a group long opposed by Bolton and other senior Trump officials.

The attempt to criticize Khashoggi in private stands in contrast to the Saudi government’s later public statements decrying his death as a “terrible mistake” and “terrible tragedy.”

In a statement released to The Washington Post, Khashoggi’s family called the characterization of the columnist as a dangerous Islamist inaccurate.

Turkish prosecutor: Khashoggi strangled and dismembered inside consulate

Turkey’s prosecutor said Oct. 31 Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi was strangled and dismembered after he entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.

“Jamal Khashoggi was not a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. He denied such claims repeatedly over the past several years,” the family said. “Jamal Khashoggi was not a dangerous person in any way possible. To claim otherwise would be ridiculous.”

Further report claims, a person familiar with the discussion said Bolton did not signal that he endorsed the crown prince’s characterization of Khashoggi during the call. A Saudi official denied Wednesday that the crown prince made the allegations, saying that “routine calls do exist from time to time” between the young leader and top U.S. officials but that “no such commentary was conveyed.”

Saudi Arabia has faced international condemnation for its shifting accounts of Khashoggi’s disappearance Oct. 2 at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.