Who ‘premeditated’ Jamal Khashoggi’s murder?

News that Saudi Arabia’s chief public prosecutor will arrive in Turkey on Sunday prompts the question: Why?

 What could Saudi Arabia’s public prosecutor possibly find out in Ankara or Istanbul that he couldn’t in Riyadh?

For, it should be plain as the nose on the public prosecutor’s face that the locus of the whole affair is Riyadh. That’s the place where Jamal Khashoggi’s murder was “premeditated” (as the public prosecutor acknowledged on Thursday, October 25). That’s the place the executors of the “premeditated” killing left and to which they returned. Riyadh is the focus. Riyadh is where it’s at.

As the Washington Post editorialised: “Saudi Arabia admits Khashoggi’s murder was premeditated. Fine. Who premeditated it?”

The paper noted that US President Donald Trump, when asked if he believed the 33-year-old crown prince’s denials of involvement, told the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday “I want to believe him. I really want to believe him.”

“What Mr. Trump should really want is the truth.”

Who “premeditated” Jamal Khashoggi’s murder? The answer lies in Riyadh not Istanbul.