Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told the US he considered murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi to be a dangerous Islamist, media reports say.
Prince Mohammed’s reported phone call to the White House came before Saudi Arabia admitted he had been killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
Saudi Arabia has denied the reports in the Washington Post and New York Times.
A Saudi national and well-known critic of Saudi rulers, Khashoggi was killed and his body dismembered on 2 October.
His body has not yet been found
His fiancée, Hatice Cengiz, has called on world leaders to “bring the perpetrators to justice”, in an editorial for the Guardian and the Washington Post.
Saudi Arabia denies its royal family was involved and says it is “determined to find out all the facts”.
Late last month, Prince Mohammed said that “the crime was painful to all Saudis”.
During the call with President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and National Security Adviser John Bolton, Prince Mohammed said Khashoggi had been a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, a transnational Islamist organisation, the Washington Post reported.
The phone call is reported to have taken place on 9 October, a week after Khashoggi disappeared.
Prince Mohammed also reportedly urged the White House to preserve the US-Saudi alliance.
In a statement to the newspaper, Khashoggi’s family denied he was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood and said the murdered writer had himself denied this repeatedly in recent years.
“Jamal Khashoggi was not a dangerous person in any way possible. To claim otherwise would be ridiculous,” the statement said.
There is still no consensus on how Khashoggi died.
He entered the consulate to sort out documents for his marriage to his Turkish fiancée, Hatice Cengiz.
On Wednesday Turkey said he was strangled immediately after entering the consulate and his body dismembered “in accordance with plans made in advance”.
Turkish media had previously quoted sources as saying Turkey had audio recordings proving that Khashoggi had been tortured before being murdered.
Saudi Arabia has changed its account of what happened to Khashoggi.
When he first disappeared, it said Khashoggi had walked out of the building alive. It later admitted he had been murdered, saying the killing was premeditated and a result of a “rogue operation”.
READ ALSO: 100 journalists killed in one year
Australian who encouraged wife’s suicide jailed in landmark case.
An Australian man has been sentenced to 10 years in jail for encouraging his wife’s suicide, in a case believed to have set a global precedent.
Graham Morant, 68, was convicted last month of counselling and aiding his wife, Jennifer Morant, to take her own life in 2014.
He had been motivated by a desire to access Mrs. Morant’s life insurance benefits, a judge ruled.
As sole beneficiary, Morant had stood to receive A$1.4m (£770,000; $1m).
“You counselled your wife to kill herself because you wanted to get your hands on the A$1.4m,” Justice Peter Davis said in the Queensland Supreme Court on Friday.
Mrs. Morant had suffered from chronic pain, depression and anxiety, but was not terminally ill.
Justice Davis said it appeared to be the first time globally that a person had been sentenced for counselling someone to die by suicide.
Morant had pleaded not guilty to the charges, but a jury found that Mrs. Morant would not have ended her life without his counselling.
The 56-year-old woman was found dead alongside a petrol generator in her car on 30 November, 2014. Nearby, a note read: “Please don’t resuscitate me.”
Her husband had previously driven her to a hardware store to buy the generator, the jury was told.
Morant, a devout Christian, had told his wife that he planned to use the insurance money to build a religious commune, according to prosecutors.
On Friday, Justice Davis said Morant had shown no remorse for his offences.
“You took advantage of her vulnerability as a sick and depressed woman,” he said.
Morant received a maximum 10-year sentence for the charge of counselling suicide, and a six-year sentence for the charge of aiding suicide. The sentences will be served concurrently.
He will be eligible for parole in October 2023.
