RIYADH: Unusual activity has been observed on Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi鈥檚 Twitter account since his disappearance on Oct. 2 鈥� with a total of 163 old tweets having been deleted.
This has raised questions about the identity of the person managing Khashoggi鈥檚 Twitter account 鈥� and whether it is his alleged fianc茅e Hatice (Khadija) Cengiz. It was reported that all of Khashoggi鈥檚 cellphones are in her possession; yet Khashoggi鈥檚 ex-wife, Alaa Nassif, has said neither she nor Khashoggi鈥檚 family had any knowledge of Khadija.
On the day of Khashoggi鈥檚 disappearance, he had not followed anyone new and the number of the accounts he followed was 778, according to the analytics tool SocialBlade.
After US commandos killed Osama Bin Laden in 2011, Khashoggi tweeted about how he had 鈥渃ollapsed crying.鈥� He wrote on Twitter: 鈥淚 collapsed crying a while ago, heartbroken for you Abu Abdullah (Bin Laden鈥檚 nickname). You were beautiful and brave in those beautiful days in Afghanistan, before you surrendered to hatred and passion.鈥�
That day, an additional 20 tweets were posted on Khashoggi鈥檚 account. Yet between Oct. 3 and Oct. 15, a total of 163 tweets were deleted 鈥� including 90 tweets on Oct. 4 alone. The number of accounts followed by Khashoggi also dropped by five during the same period 鈥� although it is not clear whether these accounts were deliberately unfollowed.
Rogue killers: Read US President Donald Trump鈥檚 latest comments on the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
A Saudi Twitter user named Trad Al-Asmari has also monitored Khashoggi鈥檚 account and posted the findings online.
Questions have been raised over the kind of tweets being deleted from Khashoggi鈥檚 account, given the controversial nature of some of his posts, in which he had expressed views that could have been deemed sympathetic to Al-Qaeda and Daesh.
In another tweet, Khashoggi apparently aimed to justify Daesh鈥檚 tactic of beheading people.
Lebanese political activist Nidal Sabeh said in a tweet about the activity on Khashoggi鈥檚 account:
鈥淭he person managing the Twitter account of Jamal Khashoggi has removed me from his friends list. His account has been recently very active, deleting several tweets and unfollowing accounts Jamal used to follow. I have no idea what could be the purpose of this act, but it certainly is noticeable.鈥�