Khashoggi’s murders forgiven

Agnes Callamard, the UN expert who investigated the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi, does not hesitate to speak of a new act in the Saudi « travesty of justice ». Two years after the journalist’s death, the latter’s children announced on Friday that they had forgiven their father’s killers.

« We, the sons of martyr Jamal Khashoggi, announce that we forgive those who killed our father, » the elder son of former Washington Post reporter wrote on Twitter. Saudi authorities did not respond to the announcement from Salah Khashoggi, who lives in Saudi Arabia.

Jamal Khashoggi, a critic of the Saudi regime after being close to it, was assassinated and his body cut to pieces on October 2, 2018 inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. He went there to retrieve a document. According to Turkey, Khashoggi was strangled and his body was dismembered during a mission operated by a team of fifteen people. The 59-year-old editorialist’s remains have never been found.

After denying the assassination and then putting forward several contradictory versions, the authorities in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, claimed that it was committed by Saudi agents who acted alone and without orders from senior leaders. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, known as MBS, was chosen by Turkish and American officials to be the sponsor of the murder. He later said he was responsible for the murder, but denied knowing it before it was committed.

After an opaque trial in Saudi Arabia, five Saudis were sentenced to death and three others to prison terms. Eleven people in all have been charged. Salah Khashoggi said he had « full confidence » in the Saudi judicial system, criticizing opponents who he said were seeking to exploit the case.

For Ali Shihabi, Saudi author and analyst close to the government, the forgiveness of the Khashoggi sons « mainly means that the murderers will avoid capital punishment since it is a right that the family has through forgiveness », according to sharia law, Islamic law. « According to sharia law applied in Saudi Arabia, the murderers will not be executed, » added analyst Nabeel Nowairah.

In contrast, for Jamal Khashoggi’s Turkish fiancée Hatice Cengiz, who is waging an international campaign against Saudi officials, “no one has the right to forgive their murderers. We won’t stop until justice is done for Jamal. ”

« It is sad to see Khashoggi’s sons being subjected to further humiliation by the Saudi regime with their so-called forgiveness for their father’s murderers, » said Bessma Momani, a Middle East specialist and university professor. Waterloo in Canada. « To suggest that this act of forgiveness is voluntary is to ignore the enormous political and social pressure probably exerted on the sons by the same circle of political power which was behind the murder of their father, » she judges.

In the past, Salah Khashoggi had already assured to have « full confidence » in the Saudi judicial system, criticizing the opponents who, according to him, sought to exploit this affair. In April 2019, the Washington Post assured that the four children of the murdered journalist, including Salah, had received homes worth several million dollars and were paid thousands of dollars a month by the authorities. The family then denied.

A month ago, Turkish justice launched proceedings against twenty people including two close to MBS, ex-adviser Saoud al-Qahtani and the former intelligence number two, General Ahmed al-Assiri,

Identified as the sponsors of the murder. The first was investigated but was not charged « on the basis of insufficient evidence » and the second, charged, was acquitted for the same reasons, according to the Saudi prosecution. The two men were officially ousted from the political circle of the prince inheriting.

By Mouad Mekroum