How the man behind Khashoggi murder ran the killing via Skype
Saudi crown prince's 'faithful executor' implicated in journalist's murder
SAUDI ARABIA He ran social media for Saudi Arabia's crown prince. He masterminded the arrest of hundreds of his country's elite. And, according to two intelligence sources, he ran journalist Jamal Khashoggi's brutal killing at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul by giving orders over Skype.
Mr Saud Al Qahtani, a top aide for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, is one of the fall guys as Riyadh tries to stem international outrage at Mr Khashoggi's death.
On Saturday, Saudi media said King Salman had sacked Mr Qahtani and four other officials over the killing carried out by a 15-man hit team.
But Mr Qahtani's influence in the crown prince's entourage has been so vast - his own rise tracking that of his boss - that it will be hard for Saudi officials to paint him as the mastermind of the murder without also raising questions about the involvement of Prince Mohammed, according to several sources with links to the royal court.
Mr Qahtani once said he would never do anything without approval. "Do you think I make decisions without guidance? I am an employee and a faithful executor of the orders of my lord the king and my lord the faithful crown prince," he tweeted last summer.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said yesterday that there were strong signs Mr Khashoggi's killing was planned and attempts to blame it on intelligence operatives"will not satisfy us". In a speech to parliament, Mr Erdogan did not mention Crown Prince Mohammed, or MBS as he is known.
A second senior Saudi official said Mr Qahtani had been detained following his sacking by royal decree, but he continued to tweet afterwards. The sources with links to the royal court said he was not believed to be under arrest.
In the Khashoggi killing, Mr Qahtani was present as he has been at other key moments of the MBS administration.
This time, though, his presence was virtual. According to one high-ranking Arab source with access to intelligence and links to members of Saudi Arabia's royal court, Mr Qahtani was beamed into a room of the Saudi consulate via Skype.
He began to hurl insults at Mr Khashoggi over the phone. According to the Arab and Turkish sources, Mr Khashoggi answered Mr Qahtani's insults with his own. But he was no match for the squad, which included top security and intelligence operatives, some with direct links to the royal court.
A Turkish intelligence source claimed that at one point Mr Qahtani told his men to dispose of Mr Khashoggi. "Bring me the head of the dog", the Turkish intelligence source claimed Mr Qahtani had said.
It is not clear if Mr Qahtani watched the entire proceedings, which the high-ranking Arab source described as a "bungled and botched operation".
The Arab source and the Turkish intelligence source said the audio of the Skype call is now in the possession of Mr Erdogan.
The sources say he is refusing to release it to the Americans.
Mr Qahtani, 40, has earned a reputation at home as both a violent enforcer of princely whims and as a strident nationalist.
Online, some liberal Saudi journalists and activists have dubbed him the Saudi Steve Bannon (the former aide to US President Donald Trump) for his aggressive manipulation of the news media and behind-the-scenes strategising.
At least three friends of Mr Khashoggi said that after the journalist moved to Washington a year ago he received multiple phone calls from the crown prince's right-hand man urging him to return to Saudi Arabia.
Mr Khashoggi had balked, they said, fearing reprisals for his Washington Post columns and outspoken views.
Mr Qahtani had tried to reassure the former newspaper editor that he was still well respected and had offered him a job as a consultant at the royal court, the friends said.
Mr Khashoggi had said that while he found Mr Qahtani gentle and polite during those conversations, he did not trust him, one close friend recalled.
"Jamal told me afterwards, 'he thinks that I will go back so that he can throw me in jail?"
- REUTERS
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