TURKISH officials have an audio recording of the alleged killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul from the Apple Watch he wore, a pro-government Turkish newspaper has alleged.
The claim, published by the Sabah newspaper, through which Turkish security officials have
leaked information about the case, did not immediately explain how officials there also reportedly have video of Khashoggi’s alleged killing after he walked into the Saudi Consulate more than a week ago.
However, it puts more pressure on Saudi Arabia to explain what happened to Khashoggi, who has written critically about Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The Washington Post, for which Khashoggi is a columnist, cited anonymous officials who described what happened.
The kingdom has maintained the allegations against it are “baseless”. Nevertheless, a Saudi official early on yesterday acknowledged for the first time that some believe Khashoggi was murdered by the kingdom.
Authorities recovered the audio from Khashoggi’s iPhone and his iCloud account, the newspaper said.
The journalist had given his phones to his fiancee before entering the consulate.
The newspaper also alleged Saudi officials tried to delete the recordings first by incorrectly guessing Khashoggi’s PIN on the watch, then later using the journalist’s finger.
However, the Apple Watch does not include Touch ID hardware to authenticate the user with a fingerprint, unlike other Apple products.
This was not addressed in the newspaper’s report.
An Apple Watch is capable of recording audio and can sync that later with a mobile phone over a Bluetooth connection.
The newspaper’s account did not elaborate on how the Apple Watch synced that information to both the phone and Khashoggi’s iCloud account.
Turkish officials say they believe a 15-member Saudi “assassination squad” killed Khashoggi at the consulate.
Last week the supposed names and photos of member of the team allegedly sent to kill the journalist were published in the same Turkish newspaper.
They have also alleged that they have footage of the killing, but not explained how they have it.
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