Jamal Khashoggi: Murdered journalist's last words saw him beg for life

Journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed in 2018
AFP/Getty Images
Tim Baker11 September 2019

Murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s last words saw him beg his killers not to cover his mouth in case he suffocated, it has been revealed.

Turkey’s Sabah newspaper published new details of a recording of the 59-year-old’s final moments in October last year.

The father-of-four was killed in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, and a United Nations report has laid the blame at the feet of the Arabian nation’s regime.

According to the recording Maher Mutreb, a member of the Saudi hit squad, tells Khashoggi that he has to be taken back to Riyadh, the Saudi capital, because of an Interpol order against him.

The journalist objects, saying there is no legal case against him and that his fiancee is waiting for him outside.

Mutreb and another man are also heard trying to force Khashoggi to send his son a message telling him not to worry if he doesn't hear from him, according to the paper.

Khashoggi resists saying: "I will write nothing."

A CCTV still obtained by A Haber claims to show a man carrying suitcases containing the remains of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi into the residence of Saudi Arabia's consul general in Istanbul
A Haber/Reuters

Mutreb is later heard saying: "Help us, so that we can help you. Because in the end, we will take you to Saudi Arabia. And if you don't help us, you know what will happen in the end."

Sabah also published Khashoggi's last words before he was apparently drugged and lost consciousness.

According to Sabah, Khashoggi told his killers: "Don't cover my mouth, I have asthma, don't do it. You'll suffocate me."

Khashoggi's fiancee Hatice Cengiz waited outside the consulate in Istanbul but her partner never came out
REUTERS

Some of the details of the transcript published by Sabah - which is closely linked to the Turkish regime - were already in a United Nations report over Khashoggi's killing that was released in June.

The UN report alleged that Saudi Arabia bears responsibility for the killing and said Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's possible role in the killing should be examined.

Saudi Arabia initially offered multiple, shifting accounts about Khashoggi's disappearance. As international pressure mounted, the kingdom eventually settled on the explanation that he was killed by rogue officials in a brawl inside their consulate.

The kingdom has put 11 people on trial in non-public proceedings.

The 33-year-old prince, who continues to have the support of his father, King Salman, denies any involvement in the killing.

Khashoggi's remains have never been found.

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