Family Of Murdered Saudi Journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, Pardons His Killers

The children of slain Saudi journalist, Jamal Khashoggi have publicly pardoned their father’s killers.

A tweet from the martyred journalist’s eldest son, Salah Khashoggi, said the pardon is in the spirit of Ramadan, the holy month on the Islamic calendar.

“On this virtuous night of (Ramadan), we recall the words of God Almighty … whoever pardons and makes reconciliations, his reward is from Allah,” read the statement, referring to Laylit el Qader, or the Night of Power, considered by Islam to be the holiest night of the year.

“So we, the sons of the martyr Jamal Khashoggi, announce that we have pardoned (those) who killed our father.”

The statement lets off five government agents who are facing the death penalty after being found guilty for butchering the late Khashoggi, a fierce critic of the Saudi government in the Kingdom’s Consulate at Istanbul, Turkey in 2018.

Muslim governments typically issue pardons on the month of Ramadan. According to Saudi law, a pardon from a son of a murder victim is considered as a legal reprieve.

Last December, five government agents convicted of Khashoggi’s murder at the kingdom’s Istanbul consulate in October 2018 were sentenced to death. Three other people allegedly involved in the case were given prison sentences.

Overall, 11 people were put on trial for Khashoggi’s brutal murder, which sparked a global outcry and dealt a blow to Saudi Arabia’s reputation.

The families of the convicts are now liable to pay blood money to Khashoggi’s family. If they can’t afford to make the payment, the state can pay instead, in addition to state money already given to the family.

Khashoggi’s sons have denied receiving so-called blood money settlement from the Saudi government after CNN reported a source claiming this.

After the family’s pardon was tweeted Friday, Agnes Callamard, the United Nations rapporteur for extrajudicial executions decried the pardon as the “final act of the parody of justice.”

 “Saudi Arabia has repeatedly proven it will not deliver justice for Jamal Khashoggi. This is the last piece to the Saudi impunity puzzle, the final act of the parody of justice played in front of a global audience. The killers will walk free. Exonerated,” Callamard said in a tweet on Friday following the family’s announcement.

Callamard had led a high-profile investigation into Khashoggi’s murder. In a report last year, she concluded that Saudi Arabia was responsible under international law for the “deliberate, premeditated execution” and called for an investigation into the role of the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, saying there was “credible evidence meriting further investigation by a proper authority” as to whether the “threshold of criminal responsibility has been met.”

US intelligence concluded that the crown prince ordered the killing of Khashoggi. Saudi authorities have denied the allegations.