Who are the Saudis in the spotlight regarding the murder of Jamal Khashoggi?

In 2019, Saudi Arabia jailed eight people between the ages of seven and 20 in connection with the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul in 2018.

A declassified CIA report released on Friday said Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had approved an operation to capture or kill Khashoggi.

In a report issued in 2019, the United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions identified 11 people who are being tried based on information from various government sources.

The following is an overview of some of those arrested or being tried or fired in Saudi Arabia in connection with the Khashoggi case, based on media reports and photos, as well as information from officials and sources:

– Saud Al-Qahtani

Saud Al-Qahtani, who is considered the right-hand man of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was removed from the post of adviser in the royal court, and Attorney General Al-Qahtani was questioned but not charged.

Al-Qahtani began working at the royal court during the reign of the late King Abdullah, and became a keeper of secrets in Prince Muhammad’s close circle, and sources with ties to the royal court said he was speaking a lot about on behalf of the crown prince and was issuing direct orders to senior officials, including officials from the security services.

According to sources close to Khashoggi and the government, Al-Qahtani tried to convince the journalist to return to the kingdom after he moved to Washington a year ago, fearing retaliation for his views.

Saudi officials said Al-Qahtani authorized one of his subordinates, Maher Mutreb, to carry out what he said was supposed to be a negotiation for Khashoggi’s return to the kingdom.

Al-Qahtani used Twitter to attack criticism of the kingdom in general and Prince Mohammed in particular. He also used Twitter to attack critics and ran a WhatsApp group with local newspaper editors to dictate the royal court’s approach.

The prosecution said that an order was issued preventing Al-Qahtani from traveling and that investigations into his role are continuing, but four sources from the Gulf region told “Reuters” that he is still free and continues to work in secret.

Ahmed Asiri

Ahmed Asiri, the former deputy chief of General Intelligence, is one of those removed by Saudi King Salman, and the attorney general’s office said he was the one who ordered the operation to return Khashoggi to the kingdom, but did not order his assassination.

Authorities said later in 2019 that the judiciary acquitted him for lack of evidence.

According to Saudi media reports, he joined the military in 2002 and was a spokesperson for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen in 2015, and was appointed deputy intelligence chief by royal decree in April 2017.

Maher Mutreb

According to a senior Saudi official, Colonel Maher Mutreb, Al-Qahtani’s information security assistant, was the main negotiator within the consulate. The UN report said Mutreb was involved in planning the operation days before it took place and that there was a recording. of him referring to Khashoggi as “Eid the sheep”.

Mutreb is a senior intelligence officer and a member of Prince Mohammed’s security team. He appeared with the prince in photographs taken during official visits to the United States and Europe.

The Saudi official said Mutreb was chosen for the Istanbul process because he already knew Khashoggi while they worked together at the Saudi embassy in London.

The official said Mutreb knew Khashoggi well and was the best person who could persuade him to return.

– Salah al-Tabiqi

Al-Tubaigy is a forensic expert in the Department of Forensic Evidence at the Saudi Ministry of the Interior, according to an online resume from the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties.

In the Istanbul operation, the Saudi official said Tubaigy’s role was to remove evidence such as fingerprints or evidence of the use of force.

The UN report said Tubaigy did not appear to be a key member of the team that carried out Khashoggi’s assassination, but had the specific task of disposing of the body.

Mustafa Al-Madani

A senior Saudi official said Mustafa Al-Madani led intelligence efforts with the 15-person team in Istanbul.

According to the official, the civilian dressed in Khashoggi’s clothes, put on his glasses and a camel watch, and left through the back door of the consulate in an attempt to prove that Khashoggi had left the building.

The United Nations report said that his presence to play the Khashoggi’s likeness role indicates that the assassination was orchestrated, and the report indicated that the civilian has the rank of colonel and works in the royal palace.

– Mohammed Al-Otaibi

Muhammad al-Otaibi, the Saudi Arabian consul general in Istanbul, allowed Reuters to roam inside the consulate four days after Khashoggi’s assassination, opened the filing cabinets and removed the wooden panels covering the air conditioning units in an attempt to confirm that Khashoggi was not inside. building.

And the UN investigator’s report released Al-Otaibi’s recorded conversations with other Saudi officials days before Khashoggi’s assassination, in which he spoke about a “top-secret mission.”

Al-Otaibi left Istanbul ten days later and there has been no news from him since then, with the Saudi Deputy Attorney General said in 2019 that Al-Otaibi was released after being questioned.

Other team members

According to the United Nations report, the other members included Fahd Shabib Al-Balawi and Walid Abdullah Al-Shehri, and both were members of the Saudi Royal Guard, and Turki Masraf Al-Shehri, an intelligence officer, was subject to research.

All three are among the 10 Saudi officials named in the report that they were at the consulate at the time of the assassination.

Reports say that Muhammad Saad al-Zahrani and Saif Saad al-Qahtani, who were also at the consulate at the time of the murder, were on trial.

The investigation also mentioned the names of Mansour Othman Abu Hussein, who was at the consul’s residence, as well as Muflih Shaya al-Musleh, an employee of the consulate.

It should be noted that the declassified report issued by the administration of US President Joe Biden listed 21 people who have great confidence in the CIA that they were involved or responsible for the murder of Khashoggi on behalf of the Crown Prince.