Turkey seeks arrest of Saudi crown prince allies over Khashoggi

Istanbul -A Turkish court has issued arrest warrants for two suspects close to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman over the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, raising pressure on the kingdom´s de facto leader after two US senators accused him of ordering the hit.

Saudi Arabia has sought to distance Prince Mohammed from the murder and has received support from the administration of US President Donald Trump, which has downplayed possible links between the crown prince and what happened to Khashoggi.

But two key senators from Trump´s own Republican party said Tuesday that a briefing by the CIA´s director had strengthened their conviction that Prince Mohammed directed the murder.

Khashoggi, a Saudi contributor to the Washington Post, was killed shortly after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2 to obtain paperwork for his upcoming marriage.

The chief prosecutor´s office in Istanbul filed an application on Tuesday to obtain the warrants for Ahmad al-Assiri and Saud al-Qahtani, described in court documents as being "among the planners" of Khashoggi´s grisly killing.

Then on Wednesday, an Istanbul court issued the arrest warrants for Assiri and Qahtani on the charge of "deliberately killing (someone) with monstrous feeling or causing torment", according to state news agency Anadolu.

Assiri, the former deputy head of general intelligence, often sat in during Prince Mohammed´s closed-door meetings with visiting foreign dignitaries, while Qahtani was a key counsellor to the crown prince.

Both were sacked after Riyadh admitted Khashoggi was killed in the Saudi consulate.

- ´Zero question in my mind´ -

According to Turkey, a 15-member Saudi team was sent to Istanbul to kill Khashoggi.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said the order to kill Khashoggi came from the highest levels of the Saudi government, but has insisted it was not King Salman.

Riyadh has since detained 21 people over the murder, seeking death penalties against five of them, but has strongly denied the crown prince was involved.

However US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker said he had "zero question in my mind" that Prince Mohammed directed the killing after an hour-long briefing to a small group of senators by CIA director Gina Haspel.

Trump ally and fellow Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said the "crazy" crown prince was "complicit in the murder of Mr Khashoggi to the highest level possible".

The CIA has evidence that the crown prince exchanged 11 messages with Qahtani, who allegedly oversaw the murder, just before and after it took place, according to US media, including The Wall Street Journal.

- Saudis ´won´t take action´ -

The Istanbul prosecutor in charge of the Turkish investigation said in late October that Khashoggi, a former Saudi insider turned critic, was strangled then his body was cut into pieces.

Turkish officials have searched the consulate, the consul-general´s residence, a forest in Istanbul and two villas in the northwestern province of Yalova, but Khashoggi´s remains have still not been found.

A senior Turkish official said Wednesday that the prosecutor´s move "reflects the view that the Saudi authorities won´t take formal action against those individuals".

Riyadh could "address those concerns" by extraditing the suspects to Turkey, the official said.

The official, who did not wish to be named, also suggested there could be more arrest warrants sought by the prosecutor.

Erdogan maintained pressure on Riyadh this week in an interview with reporters during his visit to South America, urging the kingdom to provide further details and suggesting Turkey could take the issue to the United Nations.

"Where is Khashoggi´s body? Your team of 20 knows this," he demanded, the Hurriyet newspaper quoted him as saying.

The murder has damaged Riyadh´s international reputation and Western countries including the US, France and Canada have placed sanctions on nearly 20 Saudi nationals.