COLUMBIA JOURNALISM REVIEW – 02/10/2019
Jon Allsop
A YEAR AGO TODAY, in the early hours of the morning, a private jet carrying assassins on Saudi Arabia’s payroll landed in Istanbul. An expert on dissecting bodies joined them later. They waited at the Saudi consulate for the arrival of Jamal Khashoggi, a dissident writer from the country; Khashoggi needed to sort some paperwork regarding his impending marriage to Hatice Cengiz, who was waiting outside. Inside, one of the assassins told Khashoggi they had come to take him back to Saudi Arabia. A struggle ensued. According to a recent report in a Turkish newspaper, Khashoggi said, “Do not keep my mouth closed. I have asthma, do not do it. You’ll suffocate me.” He said nothing after that. The assassins reportedly hacked Khashoggi’s body to pieces with a bone saw. It’s still not clear what they did next. They may have dissolved Khashoggi’s remains in acid, Turkish officials said. Or they may have incinerated them.