Jamal Khashoggi, a former Saudi government advisor, had been living in the United States since last year, fearing possible arrest.
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday demanded that Saudi Arabia provide answers over the disappearance of journalist and US resident Jamal Khashoggi, whom Turkish officials suspect was murdered after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
The Trump administration sharply upped the pressure, reversing an initially low-key response after Washington Post contributor Khashoggi vanished on October 2.
Trump said he had talked "more than once" and "at the highest levels" to partners in Saudi Arabia, which is one of Washington's closest allies and a key market for the US weapons industry.
"We're demanding everything," Trump told reporters. "We cannot let this happen, to reporters, to anybody."
"We are very disappointed to see what's going on. We don't like it and we're going to get to the bottom of it," he added.
In a later interview with "Fox News at Night," Trump said "it would not be a good thing at all" if the Saudis were proven to be involved.
Twenty-two senators wrote to Trump invoking the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, which requires the president to open an investigation and determine whether sanctions should be imposed.
The act is used in cases of suspected "extrajudicial killing, torture, or other gross violation of internationally recognized human rights against an individual exercising freedom of expression," the senators said. AFP Reports