Khashoggi's Son Says Family Pardons Murderers

Khashoggi's Son Says Family Pardons Murderers

Salah Khashoggi, a son of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was brutally murdered two years ago in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, said on Friday that his family has forgiven those responsible for his father's death

CAIRO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd May, 2020) Salah Khashoggi, a son of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was brutally murdered two years ago in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, said on Friday that his family has forgiven those responsible for his father's death.

"We, children of the martyred Jamal Khashoggi, declare that we pardon the one who has killed our father," Salah wrote on Twitter on the eve of the end of Ramadan.

Salah accompanied his message by the Qur'an verse about forgiveness.

Khashoggi, a columnist for the Washington Post, went missing in October 2018 after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Riyadh initially denied any knowledge of the journalist's whereabouts but eventually admitted that Khashoggi was killed and dismembered inside the embassy.� The Saudi monarchy has denied any role in the journalist's death, saying that he was killed in a rogue operation.

In December, a Saudi court sentenced five suspects in Khashoggi's murder to death and jailed another three for a total of 24 years in a trial. Turkey and international human rights groups have slammed the ruling of a Saudi court in the trial over Khashoggi's murder.

Following its own investigation, the Istanbul Chief Prosecutor's Office in March charged 20 Saudi nationals for the journalist's premeditated murder and demanded life sentences for 18 of them. The other two defendants, former deputy head of Saudi Arabia's intelligence services Ahmed al-Asiri and former royal adviser Saud al-Qahtani, were charged with the incitement of first-degree murder.

Under Islamic law, death sentences in Saudi Arabia can be commuted if the victim's family pardons the perpetrator. However, the country's authorities have made no official comment on the matter yet.