A SAUDI doctor suspected of killing and dismembering a prominent journalist honed his craft in Australia, it has been revealed.
A SAUDI doctor accused of the grisly assassination of a prominent international journalist in Turkey studied forensic medicine in Australia, it has emerged.
Turkish authorities say Dr Salah al-Tubaigy was among 15 men present at the Saudi Arabian Consulate in Istanbul, when Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi is believed to have met a brutal end on October 2.
The Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine confirmed that Dr al-Tubaigy spent three months training as a forensic pathologist at the Melbourne facility in 2015.
Institute director Professor Noel Woodford told the ABC he did not meet the Saudi surgeon during his Australian placement but understood he voiced a particular interest in the field of mass disaster victim identification.
However his predecessor, Stephen Cordner, was one of the Saudi surgeon’s Australian mentors and recalled the experience in a radio interview on Wednesday.
“I remember Dr Tubaigy,” he told ABC radio.
“He became really the senior forensic doctor in Saudi Arabia, he was head of the Saudi forensic medicine commission.”
According to Prof Cordner, one of Dr al-Tubaigy’s responsibilities was dealing with disasters, particularly deaths of pilgrims during the annual Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca.
“He did get familiar with the use of our CT scans in a post mortem context,” Prof Cordner said.
“He didn’t do any autopsies. He observed autopsies, attended academic meetings, so really just attended things that happened in the building.”
Prof Cordner said the institute took a “generous view” of people who had indicated they wanted to spend time there observing.
“We approach them as though they’re honest people dealing with us wanting to improve the lives of the people in the country they come from,” he said.
Australia-trained Dr Salah al-Tubaigy is among 15 suspects in the grisly murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Picture: The SabahSource:Supplied
Dr Salah al-Tubaigy trained at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine for three months in 2015. Picture: The SabahSource:Supplied
Mr Khashoggi, an outspoken critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, vanished after entering the consulate to obtain documents relating to his upcoming wedding to fiancee Hatice Cengiz.
It is believed he was tortured, murdered and dismembered in the presence of up to 15 Saudi officials, including Dr al-Tubaigy and Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb, who is a bodyguard for the Crown Prince.
Turkish authorities suspect Mr Khashoggi’s killers may have disposed of his body by dissolving it in acid.
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