Writer 'strangled and dismembered'

Pompeo says US working hard to get facts on Khashoggi death

Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was choked to death right after entering the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul and his body quickly dismembered, a top Turkish prosecutor said on Wednesday.

Chief Istanbul Prosecutor Irfan Fidan's office also reiterated a call in a statement for the extradition of the 18 suspects arrested in Saudi Arabia, saying: "Turkish courts have jurisdiction over the case in line with Turkish law and principles of international law, provided that Jamal Khashoggi was killed in Turkey."

The statement was the first public confirmation by a Turkish official that Khashoggi was strangled and mutilated after he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct 2.

The office said that Turkish prosecutor's discussions with Saudi Chief Prosecutor Saud al-Mojeb over the killing had produced "no concrete result".

Khashoggi, a 59-year-old journalist and columnist for The Washington Post, has been missing since he entered the Saudi consulate.

The case has brought near unprecedented international scrutiny on Saudi Arabia, which is seeking to draw a line under the crisis after offering a series of narratives in the weeks following the murder.

The Saudi Public Prosecution said that 18 people were arrested over their alleged connections to the killing, after releasing its initial investigations results.

Mojeb met with Fidan twice this week before leaving for Riyadh on a private jet on Wednesday. Saudi Arabia has not commented directly on the prosecutor's visit.

Fidan's office said the Saudi delegation submitted a written statement and invited the Turkish delegation to come to Saudi Arabia bringing "evidence obtained during the course of the investigation".

The Saudi representatives said the whereabouts of Khashoggi's remains and whether the killing was premeditated or not would only come to light through a joint interrogation by Turkish and Saudi investigators, according to the statement.

US President Donald Trump said the Saudis didn't betray him but "maybe they've betrayed themselves". He told reporters at the White House on Wednesday: "I just hope it all works out."

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday that the United States will not rely on other sides regarding the investigation of the his death.

During an interview via teleconference with The Brian Kilmeade Show, Pompeo said that the murder of Khashoggi violated "the norms of international law".

He added that "we are working diligently, our team, to get the facts, the facts that the Americans can learn. We won't rely on others; we'll take their information, we'll make sure and develop our fact pattern".

He also said that US military and commercial ties with Saudi Arabia are "very important", which should be kept in mind "as we continue to ensure that accountability is had for all those who were involved in committing this murder".

Xinhua and AP contributed to this story.

(China Daily 11/02/2018 page11)