Jamal Khashoggi Murder Tape Transcript Describes Sounds Of Saw Cutting Up Columnist’s Body, CNN Reports
When journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered on October 2 inside the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul, his final words were “I can’t breathe,” according to a transcript of an audio recording that captured Khashoggi’s slaying at the hand of a group of Saudi assassins, and that was described in a new, exclusive report by CNN on Sunday. The transcript goes on to describe the sounds of a saw cutting up Kahshoggi’s body — possibly while the Washington Post columnist was still alive.
“As the transcript continues, it is clear Khashoggi is not yet dead,” the CNN report said. The transcript does not specify the moment Khashoggi dies.
The transcript appears to confirm details of Khashoggi’s killing that leaked just two weeks after his death and were reported at the time by the Inquisitr. In addition to the report that the process of dismembering Khashoggi’s body was done while he was still alive, the earlier leaked details said that Dr. Salah Muhammad al-Tubaiqi, who actually dismembered Khashoggi with a saw, told his fellow members of the death squad to listen to music through headphones, presumably to drown out sounds of the gruesome procedure.
The CNN account of the transcript also contains that detail, reporting that al-Tubaiqi tells his fellow killers, “Put your earphones in, or listen to music like me.”
The tape on which the transcript is based is believed to be the same recording heard by Central Intelligence Agency Director Gina Haspel, who briefed U.S. Senators on the tape’s contents last week, CNN reported. But Donald Trump said he refused to listen to the tape himself, as the Inquisitr reported.
Trump issued a White House statement saying he will “stand with Saudi Arabia” despite a CIA finding that Saudi ruler Mohammed bin Salman likely ordered the killing, a statement that opened with the assertion, “The world is a very dangerous place!”
Trump’s son-in-law and senior White House adviser Jared Kushner has developed a close, personal relationship with Bin Salman, and continued to contact the Saudi ruler even after details of Khashoggi’s brutal murder became public, according to the New York Times, which reported that Kushner gave the Saudi Crown Prince guidance on how to “weather the storm” surrounding the murder of the journalist, who was a United States resident.
The government of Turkey, the country where the murder of Khashoggi took place and where what remained of his body is belied to have been dumped, has demanded that Saudi Arabia send the suspects in the murder to Turkey for criminal prosecution. But the Saudis have refused, according to the news site Middle East Eye.
