Guernsey Press

Khashoggi fiancee says she wants justice over ‘great betrayal and deception’

Hatice Cengiz was addressing an Istanbul court trying 20 Saudi nationals over her fiance’s death at Riyadh’s consulate in Istanbul.

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The fiancee of Jamal Khashoggi told a Turkish court that the Washington Post columnist was lured to his death at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul through “a great betrayal and deception”, and she asked that all persons responsible for his killing be brought to justice.

Hatice Cengiz spoke at the opening of the trial in absentia of two former aides of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and 18 other Saudi nationals who were charged in Turkey for Khashoggi’s grisly slaying.

The journalist’s 2018 killing at the consulate sparked international condemnation and cast a cloud of suspicion over the prince.

The 20 Saudi defendants all left Turkey, and Saudi Arabia rejected Turkish demands for their extradition.

Some of the men were put on trial in Riyadh behind closed doors.

A security guard walks in the Saudi Arabia consulate in Istanbul (Lefteris Pitarakis/AP)
A security guard walks in the Saudi Arabia consulate in Istanbul (Lefteris Pitarakis/AP)

Mr Khashoggi’s family members later announced they had forgiven his killers.

The trial in Turkey is being closely watched for possible new information or evidence from the killing, including the whereabouts of Mr Khashoggi’s remains.

Mr Khashoggi, who was a United States resident, had walked into his country’s consulate on October 2 2018, for an appointment to pick up documents that would allow him to marry his Turkish fiancee.

He never walked out.

Turkey Khashoggi Killing
Hatice Cengiz, the fiancee of murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Kashoggi (Emrah Gurel/AP)

“I am making a complaint about everyone at the consulate. Everyone from the driver to the tea-maker,” said Ms Cengiz, who waited for Mr Khashoggi outside the Istanbul consulate when he went there to obtain the documents and alerted authorities when he failed to come out.

The trial was adjourned until November 24, DHA reported.

Turkish prosecutors have demanded that the defendants be sentenced to life terms in prison, if convicted.

The Turkish prosecutors have charged the prince’s former advisers, Saud al-Qahtani and Ahmed al-Asiri, with “instigating a premeditated murder with the intent of (causing) torment through fiendish instinct”.

Prosecutors are also seeking life prison sentences for 18 other Saudi nationals charged with carrying out “a premeditated murder with the intent of (causing) torment through fiendish instincts.”

A team of 15 Saudi agents had flown to Turkey to meet Khashoggi inside the consulate.

Turkey Khashoggi Killing
Jamal Khashoggi (Hassan Jamali/AP)

Turkish officials allege Mr Khashoggi was killed and then dismembered with a bone saw.

Turkey, a rival of Saudi Arabia, apparently had the Saudi Consulate bugged and has shared audio of the killing with the CIA, among others.

Prior to his killing, Mr Khashoggi had written critically of Saudi Arabia’s crown prince in columns for the Washington Post.

Saudi Arabia had initially offered shifting accounts about Mr Khashoggi’s disappearance.

As international pressure mounted because of the Turkish leaks, the kingdom eventually settled on the explanation that he was killed by rogue officials in a brawl.

Turkish prosecutors say the suspects “acted in consensus from the beginning in line with the decision of taking the victim back to Saudi Arabia and of killing him if he did not agree”.

Members of the media work outside the court in Istanbul (Emrah Gurel/AP)
Members of the media work outside the court in Istanbul (Emrah Gurel/AP)

In December, five people were sentenced to death while three others were found guilty of covering up the crime and were sentenced to a combined 24 years in prison.

During the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in May, Mr Khashoggi’s son announced that the family pardoned the killers, giving legal reprieve to the five government agents who were sentenced to death.

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