Missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi 'recorded his own murder on Apple Watch'

Missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi may have recorded his own murder by a Saudi hit squad at the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul using an Apple Watch, Turkish media reported on Saturday.

Saudi journalist and Washington Post contributor Khashoggi vanished on 2 October after entering the consulate to obtain documents for his upcoming marriage.

Turkish officials have said they believe Khashoggi was killed inside the consulate. Saudi Arabia has strongly denied this but has failed to explain the journalist's fate after entering its consulate building.

Khashoggi turned on the recording function of his Apple Watch before entering the consulate, Turkish daily Sabah reported on Saturday.

The Saudi journalist's "interrogation, torture and killing were audio recorded and sent to both his phone and to iCloud," the newspaper claimed.

Khashoggi's Apple Watch was paired with one of the phones he gave his fiancé Hatice Cengiz before he entered the consulate.

Turkish investigators found the audio file on the phone that Khashoggi left with his finance, Sabah reported.

The Turkish daily said that Khashoggi's assailants attempted to unlock the Apple Watch using multiple password attempts, before using his fingerprint to unlock the device.

They managed to delete some of the files, Sabah reported.

Apple Watch can provide data such as location and heart rate, according to tech experts, but fingerprint verification is not listed by Apple as one of its features.

The technical feasibility of transferring audio from an Apple Watch to an iPhone would depend on the model of the watch, whether it was near enough to an iPhone to synchronise, and whether it was connected to the internet.

The Washington Post reported late on Thursday that Turkish investigators were in possession of audio and video recordings proving Khashoggi was killed in the consulate.

"The voice recording from inside the embassy lays out what happened to Jamal after he entered," a source told the US newspaper.

"You can hear his voice and the voices of men speaking Arabic... You can hear how he was interrogated, tortured and then murdered."

Khashoggi, a Saudi national living in the US since September 2017 fearing arrest, criticised some policies of Mohammed bin Salman and Riyadh's intervention in the war in Yemen.

His alleged murder has caused international outrage, with a host of big names pulling out of an investment conference in Saudi Arabia later this month.

Key allies of Saudi Arabia, including the US and UK, have also expressed their grave concern over the assassination allegations.

Amnesty International demanded the Saudi authorities reveal what happened to Khashoggi as it said Riyadh was "responsible at a minimum for enforced disappearance".