Washington, Oct 22 (IANS) The Saudi Arabia government tried to hide the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi at its consulate in Istanbul by using a person dressed like the journalist and having him leave the building by the back door, according to a video released on Monday by US media.
In the images, released by CNN, one can observe one of the Saudi officials who was part of the 15-member security team who allegedly killed the Washington Post journalist, leaving the consulate dressed in Khaghoggi's clothing.
This alleged ruse presumably was designed to bolster Riyadh's initial story that Khashoggi left the consulate with no problem, but - apart from the clothing - the man who left the building is obviously another person, as one can easily tell from a frontal view on the video in which his face can be clearly seen.
The images were taken from different security cameras located outside the consulate.
The impersonator, according to the cable news channel, is Mustafa al-Madani, who is said to have been one of the members of the Saudi security team that traveled to Istanbul on two aircraft and went to the consulate on the same day - Oct. 2 - that Khashoggi later was seen for the last time entering the building.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Sunday that on Tuesday he will reveal "details" of the Turkish investigation into the journalist's death and expressed his disagreement with the version of events given by Riyadh, in which Khashoggi supposedly was killed accidentally in a "fistfight" inside the consulate.
Riyadh says that the journalist's body was given to a contact in Istanbul to "dispose of."
According to Turkish media, Khashoggi was executed by a team of Saudi agents close to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who were dispatched to Istanbul to kill him when he went to the consulate, as he had previously arranged, to pick up documents enabling him to marry his Turkish girlfriend.
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