TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian President Hassan Rouhani condemned Riyadh for brutal murdering of prominent journalist Jamal Khashoggi, stressing that the crime could not happen without the US support.
"No one imagined that the today world and the new century would witness such an organized crime and a system that plans for such a brutal killing and I do not think that the country dared to commit such a crime without the US support," President Rouhani said, addressing a cabinet meeting in Tehran on Wednesday.
He added that the Yemeni people are also being bombed by the Saudi-led coalition amid the global silence with Washington's support.
President Rouhani called on the Turkish government to carry out impartial and precise investigations into Khashoggi's case, describing the world states' position on the issue as a big test of their respect for human rights.
"We should see the reaction of those countries which claim to be advocates of human rights," he added.
Alluding to the US officials' mellow reaction to Khashoggi's case, President Rouhani said, "Today, the world people do not know if they should believe your slogans in support for human rights or your declaration that you are not ready to opine on the case for $450bln (the US-Saudi deals and contracts)."
After two weeks denying involvement in his disappearance, Saudi Arabia said early on Saturday that Khashoggi, a critic of bin Salman, had died in a fight inside the building.
Within hours a senior Saudi official told Reuters that a team of 15 Saudi nationals sent to confront Khashoggi had threatened him with being drugged and kidnapped and then killed him in a chokehold when he resisted.
Then on Sunday Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said that while he did not know exactly how Khashoggi had died, his killing was a “rogue operation” in which Saudi individuals had exceeded their authority.
An adviser to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday dismissed a Saudi assertion that Khashoggi died in a fight in the kingdom’s Istanbul’s consulate, one of several accounts of the journalist’s disappearance to have emerged from Riyadh.
“One cannot help but wonder how there could have been a ‘fistfight’ between 15 young expert fighters ... and a 60-year-old Khashoggi, alone and defenseless,” Yasin Aktay wrote in a column in Turkish newspaper Yeni Safak.
“It explains no aspect of the incident according to all the information reached - on the contrary, it leads to even more questions,” Aktay, who is also a close friend of Khashoggi, noted.
“The more one thinks about it, the more it feels like our intelligence is being mocked,” he wrote.
Also on Tuesday, Erdogan stated that the killing of Khashoggi inside the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul was "planned" and “brutal” murder, asking Riyadh to extradite the 18 arrested suspects to Turkey to face justice for the crime.
Addressing the Turkish parliament in Ankara, Erdogan stated that Saudi officials had planned the assassination of Khashoggi days before he was killed in Istanbul in early October, revealing that all information, evidence revealed so far shows that Khashoggi was the victim of a brutal, premeditated murder.
Confirming that a 15-man Saudi team took part in the incident, he said "a Saudi team of three people landed in Istanbul one day before Khashoggi's killing and visited forests in Istanbul and Yalova. Two other teams arrived at the consulate separately".
"Saudi consulate cameras were removed and all footage was deleted from hard drives. Camera footage shows Khashoggi did not leave the consulate. This is a political murder," he said.
“The Saudi authorities have taken an important step confirming the killing and now we ask Saudi authorities to work hard to reveal the names of those involved, from the bottom to the top,” Erdogan added.
“There are also questions in every mind; why did those 15 people gather in Istanbul on the day they committed the crime and … according to instructions given to them by whom? We need to know," the Turkish leader stressed.
"Evidence shows Khashoggi's killing was a result of a planned operation. Why was the team assembled in Istanbul? Who gave the instruction for them to assemble? Why wasn't the consulate open to the investigation until many days later? Why were conflicting statements made? Where is the body of a person who was admittedly murdered? We need answers," he asked.
Erdogan demanded Riyadh reveal the identity of the "local cooperator" who purportedly took the body, calling on Saudi Arabia's government to "permit Khashoggi killing suspects to be tried in Istanbul".
"My demand is that 18 people be tried in Istanbul," he said, adding that "all those who played a role in the murder" had to face punishment.
Offering condolences to the family and relatives of Khashoggi, the Turkish president expressed confidence that Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud would cooperate with the investigation, declaring that he does not doubt the king's sincerity.
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