A son of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was murdered inside Riyadh’s consulate in Turkey in 2018, on Friday said he and his brothers have forgiven his father’s killers.
“We, the sons of martyr Jamal Khashoggi, announce we have forgiven whoever killed our father for the sake of God.
“We deeply hope that God Almighty will reward us for this,’’ Salah Khashoggi, who lives in Saudi Arabia, tweeted.
The gesture was announced as the Muslim holy month of Ramadan draws to a close.
In December, Saudi Arabia said that five people were sentenced to death for Khashoggi’s murder after a year-long trial that was criticised for its secrecy.
“Three others were handed down a total of 24 years in jail for covering up the crime,’’ Saudi prosecutors said at the time.
Khashoggi was killed after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2, 2018.
He went in to get papers to marry his Turkish fiancee Hatice Cengiz, who was waiting for him outside.
Eleven people were charged in the case, including three who were acquitted.
Saudi Arabia has repeatedly said that Khashoggi’s death was a “rogue operation” and denied that powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, widely viewed as the kingdom’s de facto ruler, was involved.
The remains of Khashoggi, who was once close to the Saudi royal family but became a vocal critic of Mohammed, were never found.
Turkish and Western intelligence agencies said the order to kill him could only have come from the highest levels of the Saudi government.
The case triggered global condemnation and overshadowed dramatic reforms championed by the heir apparent in the conservative kingdom. (dpa/NAN)
