Khashoggi, who was often critical of the Sudanese government and crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, went into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on 2 October and was tortured and killed there. Saudi Arabia in the meantime confirms the death of Khashoggi, but according to the country he was killed when a battle broke out between the journalist and the people who received him.
According to the Turkish authorities, however, the Saudi government sent a fifteen-strong team to Istanbul to kill Khashoggi on the day the journalist disappeared. The government-oriented Turkish newspaper Daily Sabah published the first photos of the suspects.
The Turkish authorities also provided the Washington Post with copies of the passports of the suspects, or information about their passports, on the day that Khashoggi disappeared. The passports have been scanned that day. The Post could also link people to telephone numbers via the Arabic ‘caller id’ MenoM3ay app. After the investigation, five members of the team suspecting by the Turkish authorities of the killing of Khashoggi in recent years traveled to the United States during visits by the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
This suggests that the men are members of the Saudi Royal Guard, and therefore also the possible involvement of the crown prince. Twelve of the fifteen men also seem to have links with the Saudi security services, according to their reports on social media, e-mails and previous reports in local media and other material that Washington Post has received. Via MenoM3ay, two of the men are also repeatedly identified as employees in the office of the crown prince.
The men flew from Saudi Arabia to Turkey in two planes. HZ-SK2 departed in the late hours of October 1 in Riyadh and HZ-SK1 early in the morning the next day. This is an overview of what we know about them, based on the Washington Post research and reports from Turkish, Saudi and American media.
1. Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb
This 47-year-old high-ranking employee of the Saudi intelligence service is the presumed key figure in the case. He would be a specialist in technology to hack phones in order to keep track of employees and opponents.
He would also have worked in London for two years at the Saudi embassy and accompanied Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on trips to the US, France and Spain.
According to the time indications on the images, Mutreb arrived at the consulate around 13:15.
2. Salah Muhammed A Tubaigy
47-year-old Tubaigy says on social media that he is the head of forensic evidence in the security department of the Saudi Ministry of the Interior. He went to the university in Glasgow and was once a visiting forensic pathologist at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine in Melbourne, Australia.
He would have cut Khashoggi’s body into pieces and would have told people to listen to music when they did the act.
3. Thaar Ghaleb T. Alharbi
The 39-year old Alharbi has the same name as someone who was promoted last year to Lieutenant Colonel in the Saudi Army, is in an article by The Middle East Eye. He was so rewarded for his role in stopping attack on the Al-Salam Palace in Jeddah. In 2015 he traveled with a royal delegation to America for a summit in Camp David.
4. Meshal Saad M Albostani
The 31-year-old Albostani resembles the person behind a now-removed Facebook profile of a man recently promoted to lieutenant with the Saudi Air Force. He studied at the University of Louisville but died in a car accident after he had flown from Turkey back to his homeland.
5. Naif Hassan S. Alarifi
This 32-year-old man, too, would have removed his Facebook profile and said he was an employee of the Saudi special forces. The profile contained photographs of the man in a military uniform and with firearms in his hand.
6. Muhammed Saad H. Alzahrani
The 30-year-old Alzahrani was identified as a member of the Saudi Royal Guard by a user of MenoM3ay. He has a photo on the side of the Crown Prince during a meeting of a tribal leader from Yemen in Riyadh in April 2017. He denies that he was in Turkey during the disappearance of Khashoggi.
7. Mansour Othman M. Abahussain
The 46-year-old Abahussain, the man in the white shirt, is a lieutenant colonel and assistant officer of Saudi civilian protection.
8. Khalid Aedh G. Alotaibi
Alotaibi is the 30-year-old man in the gray shirt on the left. Someone with this name traveled to the United States during three visits of the Saudi royal family. On MenoM3ay he is marked with the symbol of the Saudi Royal Guard.
9. Abdulaziz Mohammed M. Alhawsawi
According to a user of MenoM3ay, the 31-year-old Alhawsawi was identified as a member of the Saudi Royal Guard.
10. Waleed Abdullah M. Alsehri
Someone with the name of this 38-year-old was promoted to major with the Saudi Air Force last year. He also appears in YouTubevideo’s in which he reads poetry.
11. Fahad Shabib A. Albalawi
The 33-year-old Albalawi was also identified by two users of MenoM3ay as a member of the Saudi Royal Guard.
12. Mustafa Muhammed M. Almadani
The 57-year-old works for the Saudi intelligence services, registering four MenoM3ay users.
13. Saif Saad Q Alqahtani
This 45-year-old works for the crown prince, saw several people through MenoM3ay.
14. Türki Müşerref M. Alsehri
Nothing is known about this man, only that he would be 36 years old.
15. Badr Lafi M. Alotaibi
There is also no information available about Alotaibi beyond his age of 45 years.
Source: Washington Post, Business Insider
