Slain journalist Khashoggi's sons forgive his killers, fiancee slams move

Duvar English / Reuters

The sons of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi Arabian journalist who was slain in his country's Istanbul consulate in October 2018, said that they pardon those who killed him.

"We, the sons of the Martyr Jamal Khashoggi, announce that we pardon those who killed our father, seeking reward God almighty," tweeted Salah Khashoggi May 22.

Jamal Khashoggi was last seen at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2, 2018, where he had gone to obtain documents for his impending wedding.

The Washington Post correspondent's body was reportedly dismembered and removed from the building, and his remains have not been found.

"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," Salah Khashoggi added.

Meanwhile, Jamal Khashoggi's fiancee Hatice Cengiz slammed the journalists' sons' decision, saying that "nobody has the right to pardon his killers."

"His ambush and heinous murder does not have a statute of limitations and no one has the right to pardon his killers. I and others will not stop until we get #JusticeForJamal," Cengiz tweeted May 22.

Jamal Khashoggi's murder caused a global uproar, tarnishing Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s image. Some Western governments, as well as the CIA, said they believed he had ordered the killing.

Saudi Arabia sentenced five people to death and three to jail over the murder of Khashoggi in December of 2019.

The trials were condemned by the United Nations and rights groups for being unjust. U.N. special rapporteur for extrajudicial summary or arbitrary executions, Agnes Callamard, accused Saudi Arabia of making a “mockery” of justice.

Meanwhile, Cengiz tweeted that "the killers came from Saudi with premeditation to lure, ambush and kill him."

However, Salah Khashoggi had said of the December verdict that “it has been fair to us and that justice has been achieved.”