Journalist Jamal Khashoggi repeatedly told his killers “I can’t breathe” during his final moments in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, CNN reported on Monday.
His Turkish fiancee Hatice Cengiz waited for hours outside the consulate on Oct. 2 and, when he did not return, contacted Turkish authorities about his disappearance.
There was no further dialogue in the relatively short transcript, prepared by Turkish authorities, CNN’s source said.
As people set upon Khashoggi, he started fighting for air, repeating, “I can’t breathe” at least three times. The transcript then used singular words to describe the noises, including “scream”, “gasping”, “saw”, and “cutting”.
Turkish sources told Reuters a bone saw was used to dismember the journalist.
The transcript included no further mention of returning Khashoggi to Saudi Arabia, and no indication that he had been drugged – as Saudi Arabia’s public prosecutor said in November.