Jamal Khashoggi's family 'forgives' his killers

The son of the murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi has released a statement forgiving his killers.

Khashoggi, a prominent critic of the Saudi government, was killed inside the kingdom's consulate in the Turkish city of Istanbul in October 2018.

Khashoggi had been writing for the Washington Post newspaper and living in the US before his death.

Although Saudi officials maintain his death was not state sanctioned, their account of events has been doubted internationally, including by some intelligence agencies and the UN.

Eventually Saudi authorities submitted he was killed in a botched operation by a team tasked with getting him to return to the country.

In December 2019, a court sentenced five unnamed men to death for their role in his killing after a secretive trial in Riyadh.

A United Nations special rapporteur, Agnes Callamard, labelled the Saudi trial the "antithesis of justice" and urged an independent investigation.

The statement was posted to the Twitter account of Salah Khashoggi, one of the late journalist's sons, on Friday.

"In this blessed night of the blessed month [of Ramadan] we remember God's saying: If a person forgives and makes reconciliation, his reward is due from Allah," his tweet said.

"Therefore we the sons of the Martyr Jamal Khashoggi announce pardoning those who killed our father, seeking reward God almighty."

Death sentences can be commuted in light of a pardon by the victim's family under Islamic law, but it is not clear whether that will apply in this case.

Salah has previously issued statements expressing his confidence in, and support of, the Saudi investigation and criticised "opponents and enemies" of Saudi Arabia who he said had tried to exploit his father's death to undermine the country's leadership.

The journalist – who had gone into self-imposed exile in the US in 2017 – went to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on 2 October 2018 seeking documents to get married to fiancé Hatice Cengiz.

Investigators believe that he was murdered and dismembered while she waited outside, but his remains have never been recovered.

Saudi officials initially claimed he had left the building alive and their account of events changed several times in the weeks after his disappearance.

Details of his gruesome killing shocked the world, and a subsequent UN report said there was credible evidence that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and other high-level Saudi officials were individually liable.

The prince has denied any involvement in the murder, but has said he took "full responsibility as a leader in Saudi Arabia, especially since it was committed by individuals working for the Saudi government".

(Source: BBC)