Khashoggi murder sends ‘chilling’ press freedom message - Coveney

The "sheer brutality" of the murder of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the "chilling" message it sends about press freedom has shocked people, Tánaiste Simon Coveney said.

Mr Coveney, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, met Saudi ambassador to Ireland, Nail Al Jubeir, in Dublin on Thursday and expressed his concern about Mr Khashoggi’s disappearance.

He called for “an independent and credible inquiry” into the presumed murder of the Washington Post columnist who entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul more than two weeks ago and failed to emerge.

Turkish and international media reports, citing Turkish officials and intelligence and audio recordings that reportedly captured his killing, said Mr Khashoggi, a critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was tortured while being interrogated by Saudi agents and then murdered and dismembered.

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Saudi authorities deny any involvement in Mr Khashoggi’s disappearance and insist he left the consulate.

‘Absolute commitment’

"It is hard to know what's the truth and what's not but clearly what it looks like is a very, very gruesome murder whereby effectively professional killers went into the consulate of Saudi Arabia in Turkey and tortured, mutilated and killed a journalist," Mr Coveney told The Irish Times.

The Saudi ambassador gave him “an absolute commitment” to hold a credible inquiry into what happened at the Istanbul consulate before any decision could be made on an appropriate response, he said.

An inquiry was required to establish the facts “rather than rely on mediate commentary,” he added.

The meeting with the Tánaiste was requested by the Saudi envoy.

“The chilling nature of this in terms of the message that it sends out to journalists and to the freedom of the press and media I think is really what has shocked people here as well as the sheer brutality of what we suspect happened,” said Mr Coveney.

Irish business group Ibec cancelled a conference in Dublin on Thursday to promote business links with Saudi as the wave of controversy over Mr Khashoggi’s likely murder has grown.

The Saudi ambassador was due to have spoken at the event hosted jointly by the country's largest business representative group and the Irish Saudi Arabia Business Council.