‘I want justice,’ says Khashoggi fiancee
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.
The proceedings were widely criticised as a whitewash.
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. “He was called to that consulate with great betrayal and deception,” the private DHA news agency quoted Ms Cengiz as telling the court during her evidence.
“I am making a complaint about everyone at the consulate. Everyone from the driver to the teamaker,” 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. They have charged the prince’s former advisers, Saud alQahtani 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.”
Turkish officials allege Mr Khashoggi was killed and then dismembered with a bone saw.
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.
THE cause of a fire at Iran’s Natanz nuclear site is known, but will not be made public at this time due to “security reasons”, a security spokesman said.
The semi-official Tasnim news agency quoted spokesman Keyvan Khosravi of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council as giving the comment.
Mr Khosravi did not elaborate, but his comments show the concern felt at the highest levels in Iran over the incident early on Thursday. US-based analysts have told The Associated Press the fire and apparent explosion at the site struck a new centrifuge assembly plant.
Iranian officials had sought to downplay the blast, saying it struck an under-construction “shed”.