At Istanbul’s Çağlayan court, attempting to gain access to the second hearing in Jamal Khashoggi’s murder case.

It’s highly unusual for our only hope of justice to lie with a Turkish court, but we call again for a fair and open trial in accordance with international standards.

Normally we have no problems accessing hearings in Turkey, but space is currently restricted due to Covid measures. After some discussion, @cmihr, @ErolOnderoglu and I were let in from @RSF_inter, along with @ALQST_ORG’s @ghariba33. The German mission is also monitoring.

It seems this court understands the importance of allowing international scrutiny of these proceedings - in stark contrast to the mockery of justice that took place in Saudi Arabia. Read @RSF_inter’s analysis of why this matters: https://rsf.org/en/news/opening-khashoggi-murder-trial-istanbul-presents-new-chance-justice

Jamal Khashoggi’s fiancée @mercan_resifi is present. A second indictment has been merged with the first, bringing the total number of defendants to 26. They are not present, but are represented by lawyers assigned by the Istanbul Bar Association.

We’re hearing testimony (via an Arabic/Turkish translator) from Ayman Noor, a doctor of law and former leader of an Egyptian opposition party, who invests in Egyptian media in Turkey. He knew Jamal Khashoggi for 39 years.

Side note: I am not completely useless trial monitoring in Turkey as I speak Azerbaijani so can follow Turkish to a certain extent, but my wonderful colleague @ErolOnderoglu makes sure we’re clear on the details!

Khashoggi spoke to Noor about a meeting with MBS, in which he said MBS had asked why Khashoggi frequently travelled to Turkey, and why Khashoggi was meeting Noor. Noor said his support for the Arab spring was not friendly with MBS’ position.

Noor said Khashoggi had reported being threatened by Saud al-Qahtani since 2016. Khashoggi spoke of a phone call from Qahtani when he was living in Washington DC, saying he knew his kids & where they lived. Noor said Khashoggi was crying, which was unusual, and said he was afraid

This followed an interview Khashoggi had given via Skype, which Noor said was the first time he had spoken critically. After the threat Khashoggi asked for the Skype interview to be deleted and gave a TV interview that wasn’t critical.

Noor said Khashoggi did not feel threatened after his first visit to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, seeking a document he needed to marry @mercan_resifi. Khashoggi had said he’d been treated with respect and even questioned whether he’d had too bad an opinion of them.

Noor has been dismissed. The judge said he would issue a warrant for the arrest of the defendants who are not present.

The court has rejected @RSF_inter’s application to become a civil party in this case. Court has been adjourned until 4 March 2021.

. @RSF_inter’s reaction to our application being rejected: https://twitter.com/rsf_inter/status/1331143021874778114