Prayers for Khashoggi held in Saudi Arabia

US State Department calls the indictments ‘a good first step in the right direction’

Gulf News Report

Worshippers in Makkah and Madinah, the two most sacred cities or Muslims, performed the absentee funeral prayers over slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

The prayers in Madinah were conducted at the Prophet’s Mosque following Fajr, the pre-dawn prayers performed by Muslims at the start of the day.

In Makkah, they were performed after the Friday prayers regularly attended by thousands of worshippers. Friday is Muslims’ sacred day.

Salah Khashoggi, Jamal’s son, attended the prayers held in Madinah, a city that held a special spiritual significance for the family.

Prayers in absentia are performed for Muslims whose bodies cannot be brought to the mosque or to the prayer hall.

Public prayers are performed for Muslims, regardless of their gender or age before they are buried.

Salah on Thursday said that the family would receive condolences from people on Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the family home in the Red Sea city of Jeddah.

“From God we come and unto God we return. The condolences for Jamal Khashoggi will be held from Friday to Sunday at his home in Jeddah,” he posted on his Twitter account.

“May God have mercy on you and grant us fortitude to bear the loss.”

Meanwhile, the US and France welcomed Saudi Arabia’s indictment of suspects over the murder of journalist Khashoggi, calling it a “step in the right direction”.

Urging Riyadh to pursue its investigations, US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert on Thursday welcomed the Saudi announcement.

“We regard the announcement that they made as a good first step, it’s a step in the right direction,” she said.

In a separate statement, the French foreign ministry reiterated President Emmanuel Macron’s call for full light to be shed on Khashoggi’s October 2 death and said: “We will continue to study developments in the case closely.”

The kingdom on Thursday called for the death penalty against five accused of killing the journalist inside the consulate.