An official source stated the following: the case of the disappearance of the Saudi citizen, Jamal Khashoggi, drew the attention of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia at the highest levels, and due to the circumstances surrounding his disappearance, the Kingdom took the necessary procedures to clarify the truth and began by dispatching a security team to Turkey on October 6, 2018 to investigate and cooperate with Turkish counterparts.

That was followed by the formation of a Joint Security Team between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Republic of Turkey, with permission given to the Turkish security authorities to enter the Consulate of the Kingdom in Istanbul and the residence of the Consul.  Based on the Kingdom's keenness to clarify all the facts, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, His Majesty King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud has issued an order to the Public Prosecutor of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, No. 5709 dated today, to conduct further investigations into the case.

The Public Prosecutor has already investigated a number of suspects on the basis of information provided by the Turkish authorities to the Joint Security Team to determine whether any of suspects had any information or relation to what has happened since the information that was relayed to the security authorities indicated that the citizen Jamal Khashoggi had left the consulate.

In implementing the leadership’s directives based on the need to clearly know the truth and declare it transparently, the preliminary investigations conducted by the Public Prosecution showed that the suspects had travelled to Istanbul to meet with the Jamal Khashoggi; as there were indications of the possibility of his return to the country.

The results of the preliminary investigations also revealed that the discussions which took place between Jamal Khashoggi during his visit to the Kingdom’s Consulate in Istanbul and the suspects unfortunately led to an altercation between them and Jamal Khashoggi, leading to his death.

The source added that while the investigations are still ongoing into the case with 18 Saudi suspects in custody; the Kingdom expresses its deep regret at the painful developments that have taken place and stresses the commitment of the authorities in the Kingdom to bring the facts out publicly; hold all those involved accountable; bring them to justice by referring them to the courts in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.