The five men facing the death penalty for killing Jamal Khashoggi will not be executed after the sons of the slain dissident forgave and pardoned them for the 2018 slaying.
Khashoggi’s eldest son, Salah Khashoggi, made the announcement in a Friday post on Twitter. Under Saudi law, if the son of a murder victim forgives and pardons a convicted murderer, they can be granted a legal reprieve.
“On this virtuous night of [Ramadan], we recall the words of God Almighty … whoever pardons and makes reconciliations, his reward is from Allah,” Khashoggi wrote, noting it was Laylit el Qader, or the Night of Destiny, which comes during the final days of Ramadan. “So we, the sons of the martyr Jamal Khashoggi, announce that we have pardoned [those] who killed our father.”
Khashoggi, a Saudi dissident and opinion columnist for the Washington Post, was killed after entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in October 2018.
The CIA determined last year that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had ordered the killing, though Saudi Arabia has insisted he had no knowledge of the plot.
The Saudis claim Khashoggi’s killing, which prompted fierce international backlash, was part of a “rogue” plot and sentenced the five people accused of his murder to execution. Three others were sentenced to 24-year prison terms, and the two most senior officials accused of being involved were found not guilty because of “insufficient evidence.”
Khashoggi’s fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, condemned this week’s pardon and called for there to be justice.
“The killers came from Saudi with premeditation to lure, ambush, and kill him. Nobody has the right to pardon the killers. We will not pardon the killers nor those who ordered the killing,” she said.
“Jamal Khashoggi became an international symbol bigger than any of us, admired and loved. 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 justice for Jamal,” she added.
