Saudi Arabia’s consul general in Istanbul was relieved of duties and will be put under investigation for “violations,” an official Saudi statement said Wednesday.
The announcement comes in the wake of news reports claiming Turkish police found evidence of the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the diplomatic mission’s building in Istanbul.
The consul left Turkey on Tuesday, returning to his country on a scheduled flight as a Turkish investigative team was about to search his residence. The search was later postponed until Wednesday.
A Turkish official reportedly said late Tuesday that Washington Post journalist and Riyadh critic Khashoggi was drugged, murdered and his body was cut into pieces after he visited the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2.
CNN and Al Jazeera reported the gruesome murder late Tuesday evening, citing an anonymous Turkish official. Al Jazeera said that Turkish officials claimed recordings of the horrific acts existed.
Saudi officials previously have denied any involvement in the incident, claiming the 58-year-old disappeared after he left the consulate, but reports in U.S. media on Tuesday suggested the kingdom may acknowledge the writer was killed there during a botched interrogation.
Khashoggi, who was considered close to the Saudi royal family, had become a critic of the current government and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the 33-year-old heir apparent who has shown little tolerance for criticism.
As a contributor to the Post, Khashoggi has written extensively about Saudi Arabia, including criticism of its war in Yemen, its recent diplomatic spat with Canada and its arrest of women’s rights activists after the lifting of a ban on women driving.
