Written by by Staff Writer, CNN London
Saudi Arabia’s public prosecutor said he has fired two prosecutors who were overseeing the case of Jamal Khashoggi, the critic of the kingdom’s leadership who was killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul this year.
The prosecutor, Saud al-Mojeb, also confirmed that a formal arrest warrant had been issued for Mustafa al-Madani, the employee who was supposed to issue Madani’s (an alias) identification papers.
Madani was accused of “intentionally failing to deliver official papers to Madani, resulting in Madani signing them over to another person whom he did not know,” the statement read. Madani is the first person in Turkey’s Istanbul headquarters detained in relation to the killing of Khashoggi, who was killed inside the consulate on October 2.
According to state media, the public prosecutor said that investigations into the killing of Khashoggi had been completed and the “necessary legal action” was taken in relation to all suspects involved in his death.
That does not, however, rule out the possibility that more people may still be involved.
Following his death, Saudi Arabia has faced global outrage and split public opinion in the United States, where President Donald Trump has maintained that the Saudis were “just fine” despite an international outcry against them.
So far, the Saudi government has said that the kingdom’s security services, not the CIA, concluded that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the killing of Khashoggi.
Intercepted audio recordings purportedly showing Khashoggi’s killing, obtained by CNN from Turkish sources, confirmed those assertions.
Source in Riyadh: US-Saudi talks unlikely before Prince Mohammed’s trip
Hours before the statements from the Saudi prosecutor, the White House said that senior US officials would not travel to Saudi Arabia this weekend to assess whether Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the killing of Jamal Khashoggi because of a low priority for diplomacy.
Washington and Riyadh pledged Friday to keep working on their arms deals after President Donald Trump said it was unlikely that his administration would grant the Saudis a “last chance” during talks in Riyadh.