CCTV shows missing Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi entering consulate

Khashoggi, a 59-year-old veteran journalist who has lived in self-imposed exile in the US since Prince Mohammed's rise to power, disappeared October 2 while on a visit to the consulate to get paperwork done to be married to his Turkish fiancée.

The Washington Post has published an image it described as the last surveillance photograph of its missing Saudi contributor.

Moulay Hicham recalled recent news reports, which alleged that the Saudi journalist was tortured and murdered "at the hands of his own countrymen at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul".

Saudi Arabia meanwhile says the allegations were baseless.

The Trump family - in particular the president's son-in-law, Jared Kushner - has established a close bond with Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Yasin Aktay, who advises Erdogan in his ruling AK Party, also told Reuters that Turkish authorities believed a group of 15 Saudi nationals were "most certainly involved" in the matter, and added that statements by Saudi officials on the absence of camera records were not honest.

"Jamal has many friends in the Kingdom, including myself", Khalid wrote.

Friends of Khashoggi say Turkish police have taken possession of footage from the neighbourhood as part of their investigation.

Another report in the daily newspaper Sabah said investigators were also focused on a convoy of diplomatic vehicles that departed from the consulate on the day Khashoggi vanished.

Vice President Mike Pence also weighed in on Khashoggi's disappearance, saying on Twitter, "Deeply troubled to hear reports about Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi".

However, the consulate has other entrances and exits as well, through which Saudi officials insist he left. Relations were already strained after Turkey sent troops to the Gulf state of Qatar past year in a show of support after its Gulf neighbors, including Saudi Arabia, imposed an embargo on Doha.

BBC Newshour interviewed the journalist just three days before his visit to the consulate, and in an off-air conversation asked if he would ever return to his home country.

Saudi Arabia denies the suggestion.

Ankara sought permission to search the building on Sunday after the foreign ministry summoned the Saudi ambassador for a second time, Turkish television reported this week.

However, before Erdogan spoke, unnamed Turkish police sources as well as an adviser to Erdogan told the media that they believed that Khashoggi was killed at the Saudi Consulate, which he entered October 2.

Turkey has yet to make any evidence public. "This case sends a shockwave among Saudi Arabian human rights defenders and dissidents everywhere, eroding any notion of seeking safe haven overseas".

Khashoggi had sought assurances about his safety from friends in the USA before visiting the consulate and had asked Cengiz to contact Turkish authorities if he failed to emerge.

Shamdasani said, "At the moment there are still of lot of questions about precisely what happened after Mr Khashoggi entered the consulate, so we will wait until matters are clearer before we can comment further". Khashoggi's fiancee could not immediately be contacted but she said in a Tweet that there had been no official confirmation of the Turkish sources' statements.