Khashoggi suspects made 'chilling' jokes before killing: Reports
London, Oct 2: Saudi operatives suspected of killing journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the country's Istanbul consulate were heard joking and talking about dismemberment before his arrival, according to secret tapes heard by UN investigators.
Helena Kennedy, a British lawyer assisting the UN probe into Khashoggi's death, said recordings she had heard from inside the kingdom's mission in Turkey referred to the Saudi critic as a "sacrificial animal."
"There was a discussion about 'will the body and the hips fit into a bag this way'?", she told BBC television's Panorama documentary programme broadcast on Monday night.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, a self-styled moderniser, was feted by global leaders and business titans before the gruesome murder on October 2 last year.
But the global fallout from the killing rendered him a pariah.
Kennedy said Turkish bugs in the Saudi consulate picked up a forensic pathologist suspected of cutting up Khashoggi's body as saying, "I often play music when I'm cutting cadavers. Sometimes I have a coffee and a cigar at hand."
The pathologist also says, "'It's the first time in my life that I've had to cut pieces on the ground -- even if you are a butcher and want to cut, he hangs the animal up to do so'," she added.
"They speak about waiting for Khashoggi to arrive and they say, 'Has the sacrificial animal arrived?'. You could hear them laughing, it's a chilling business."
Turkey handed over 45 minutes of recordings to the United Nations in order for them to investigate the incident.
Khashoggi visited the consulate to secure the divorce papers needed to marry his fiancee but did not make it out alive.
"There's a point where you can hear Khashoggi moving from a man who is being a confident person, towards a sense of fear, a sense of rising anxiety, rising terror and then knowing something fatal is going to happen," said Kennedy.
UN special rapporteur Agnes Callamard, who also heard the tapes, said Khashoggi asked his suspected killers, "Are you going to give me an injection?", to which they replied 'yes'."
She added: "The sound heard after that point indicates that he is being suffocated, probably with a plastic bag over his head."
Shortly afterwards, Kennedy said the recording picked up someone saying, "he's a dog, put this on his head, wrap it, wrap it."
"One can only assume that they had removed his head," she explained.
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CSOH founder urges US panel to act on persecution of Muslims, Christians in India
Says BJP, RSS enabling persecution of Muslims, Christians
Washington, D.C.: Raqib Hameed Naik, founder and executive director of the Center for the Study of Organized Hate (CSOH), has urged the United States government to consider sanctions against certain Indian political leaders and Hindu nationalist organisations, alleging systematic persecution of Muslims and Christians in India.
Naik made the remarks while testifying before the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) on the condition of religious minorities in India.
In his testimony, Naik alleged that the persecution of Muslims and Christians in India is being enabled by senior leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party and networks linked to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
“The persecution of Muslims and Christians in India bears the sanction of the country’s top political leadership led by Prime Minister Modi and is implemented through both the state and the militant networks of the Hindu nationalist movement anchored by the RSS,” he said.
Naik named Narendra Modi, Himanta Biswa Sarma and Yogi Adityanath while discussing demolitions, hate speech and alleged discrimination against minorities.
He alleged that “this persecution is now embedded in bureaucracy, codified in law, shielded by absolute impunity, and steadily more ruthless in execution.”
Referring to Assam, Naik claimed that over the last five years the state government had demolished more than 22,000 structures and displaced nearly 100,000 people, mostly Bengali Muslims who were “falsely labelled as Bangladeshi infiltrators.”
“Forty per cent of those displaced lost their homes in 2025 alone,” he said, adding that there were documented cases of Muslims allegedly being taken to the Bangladesh border and forced across.
Naik also raised concerns over bulldozer demolitions in other BJP-ruled states, saying they continued despite a 2024 order of the Supreme Court of India prohibiting such punitive actions.
He named several companies, including JCB, Caterpillar Inc., Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra, alleging that their machinery was used in demolition drives targeting Muslim homes.
The testimony also highlighted alleged violence linked to beef consumption and cattle transport.
“Organized cow vigilante groups now operate in almost 17 states,” Naik said.
He further alleged a rise in public events where swords and knives are distributed and in programmes where Hindu nationalist recruits receive firearms training.
Speaking about Christians, Naik said they face “assaults on pastors and worshippers, the forcible closure of churches, denial of burial rights, and arrests on fabricated conversion charges.”
Naik also criticised social media platforms, stating that “US-based social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and X serve as a central infrastructure for spreading this hate and bigotry and incitement to violence.”
According to CSOH’s 2025 report, Naik said the organisation documented 1,318 in-person hate speech events targeting Muslims and Christians in 21 Indian states.
“That is a shocking four hate speeches per day, and a 97 per cent increase over 2023,” he said.
During his testimony, Naik called on the US government to consider sanctions against certain BJP leaders and organisations such as the RSS, Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP).
He also urged greater scrutiny of social media platforms and companies whose equipment he alleged had been used in demolition operations.
