Saudi Arabia's public prosecutor has said, in a statement issued from his office, that the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul was "premeditated" based on information supplied by Turkey, state media reported.
The statement was carried by the state-run Saudi Press Agency and said, "Information from the Turkish authorities indicates that the act of the suspects in the Khashoggi case was premeditated."
This statement has contradicted Riyadh's previous stand that the journalist was killed by accident during interrogation and that his death was covered up by rogue operatives.
According to the statement, Riyadh's understanding of what happened to Khashoggi had changed after new information from Turkey came to light. Suspects were being interrogated on the basis of information provided a joint Saudi-Turkish taskforce, the statement said.
Khashoggi, a former royal family insider turned critic of the Saudi crown prince, disappeared after he entered the consulate on October 2 to collect a document for his marriage.
The Saudis, so far, had said that Khashoggi was killed in a fistfight during an interrogation that went wrong, while Turkey has alleged that he was brutally killed and it was pre-planned.
