Jamal Khashoggi: Saudi journalist ‘recorded his own torture and murder on Apple Watch’, Turkish paper claims

‘The moments when Khashoggi was interrogated, tortured and murdered were recorded in the Apple Watch’s memory’, says newspaper

A missing Saudi journalist may have recorded the moments he was allegedly tortured and killed on his Apple Watch, a Turkish newspaper reported.

Jamal Khashoggi, a critic of the Saudi government, went missing more than a week ago after he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey.

Turkish officials have said they believe the 59-year-old was murdered there by a 15-member Saudi “assassination squad”.

“The moments when Khashoggi was interrogated, tortured and murdered were recorded in the Apple Watch’s memory,” Turkish newspaper Sabah reported.

Two senior Turkish officials previously told Reuters that Mr Khashoggi had been wearing a black Apple Watch when he entered the consulate, and said it was connected to a mobile phone he left outside.

Footage shows the writer entering the consulate on Tuesday of last week, but there is none showing him leaving.

Sabah, which cited “reliable sources in a special intelligence department”, said Mr Khashoggi was believed to have turned on the recording feature on the phone before entering the consulate.

The paper said Saudi intelligence agents had realised after he died that the watch was recording and initially tried to gain access by guessing Mr Khashoggi’s PIN, then using his finger to unlock it and delete some files, but not all of them.

However, unlike iPhones, Apple Watches do not have fingerprint identification – something the newspaper did not address in its report.

It said the recordings were subsequently recovered from his iPhone and iCloud account.

The watch can record audio which can sync with an iPhone over a Bluetooth connection, though is it unclear whether data from Mr Khashoggi’s watch could have been transmitted to his phone outside – or how investigators could have retrieved the data without obtaining the watch itself.

 more:

Additional reporting by agencies

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