Khashoggi Was to Disclose Saudi Use of Chemical Weapons in Yemen

Sunday Express weekly reported that a close friend of Khashoggi, speaking on condition of anonymity, had told it on Saturday night that he was about to obtain “documentary evidence” from his murdered friend proving claims that Riyadh had used banned chemical weapons in its brutal aggression against Yemen. 

“I met him a week before his death. He was unhappy and he was worried,” the Middle Eastern academic told the British weekly, adding that he asked Khashoggi why he was unhappy and worried.

“He didn't really want to reply, but eventually he told me he was getting proof that Saudi Arabia had used chemical weapons. He said he hoped he be getting documentary evidence,” Khashoggi’s fried further revealed, noting that “all I can tell you is that the next thing I heard, he was missing”.

Riyadh has been accused of using banned chemical weapons against the Yemeni soldiers defending their country against the Saudi-led aggression, with reports of using US-supplied white phosphorus munitions that can maim and kill by burning to the bone.

Khashoggi’s friend did not tell the Sunday Express whether the white phosphorus was one of the chemicals Saudis used against Yemenis, but the weekly speculated that it was “more likely” that the murdered journo was referring to phosphorous.

Last month, it was claimed that Saudi Arabia had been using white phosphorous munitions supplied by the US against soldiers and even civilians in Yemen, the weekly added.

“If Khashoggi did, in fact, have proof that Saudi Arabia was deliberately misusing phosphorous for this purpose, it would be highly embarrassing for the regime and provides the nearest motive yet as to why Riyadh may have acted when they did against him,” the Sunday Express quoted chemical warfare expert, Col. Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, as saying.

Khashoggi, known for his criticism of Saudi Arabia's policies, went missing on October 2 after entering the kingdom consulate in Istanbul to obtain a marriage document. Ankara has accused Riyadh of murdering the Khashoggi and smuggling his body out of the consulate in pieces. After two weeks of denial by Saudi officials, Riyadh confessed that Khashoggi had been murdered by its security agents at the Istanbul consulate, but made no mention of where his body is. It also sacked a top general and arrested several people.

Four weeks after the Saudi writer vanished, the details of his killing are still murky and the cause of his death is unknown. Officials in Riyadh have come up with shaky explanations for Khashoggi's demise; first stressing that he left the consulate alive, then stating that he was killed accidentally in a fistfight, and finally alleging a "rogue operation" unbeknownst to the Saudi rulers.

But, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has stated that the killing of Khashoggi inside the kingdom's consulate was "planned" and “brutal” murder, asking Riyadh to extradite the 18 arrested suspects to Turkey to face justice for the crime.

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