Saudi ‘ blood money’
Kingdom gives children of murdered journalist Khashoggi luxury homes and $10,000 a month ‘to keep quiet’
‘Fundamentally against our values’
SAUDI Arabia has handed the four children of murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi ‘blood money’ in return for staying quiet, it has been claimed.
His two daughters and two sons have allegedly been given multi-million-pound houses and monthly five-figure payments by the kingdom.
Larger payouts ‘ possibly tens of millions of dollars apiece’ could be offered in the coming months, the Washington Post reported. Mr Khashoggi, a frequent critic of the Saudi regime, wrote for the newspaper. It claimed the kingdom was trying to prevent his family from voicing criticism in relation to his killing by Saudi agents.
Saudi King Salman approved the ‘delivery of homes and monthly payments of $10,000 [£7,633] or more to each sibling’ in 2018, a former official said. This was to acknowledge that ‘a big injustice has been done’ and an attempt ‘to make a wrong, right’, they added.
His children have each reportedly received £3million homes in the port city of Jeddah. They are all in a compound where eldest brother Salah already lives. The three other children live in the US and are likely to sell their new properties, the newspaper said. The homes allegedly formed part of an initial settlement.
Officials and other sources said negotiations over further payments – described as ‘blood money’ – were expected to take place following the trials of Mr Khashoggi’s killers. It was claimed Salah Khashoggi plans to stay in Saudi Arabia, which may be one reason his siblings have not spoken out against the kingdom.
Their father was tortured and murdered last October at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, where he had gone to collect documents for his wedding. His death was originally covered up but, following immense diplomatic pressure, the Saudi public prosecutor admitted on November 15 that he had been killed.
He said he was killed by lethal injection in the consulate and repeatedly denied any involvement of the Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammad bin Salman, despite widespread accusations in the West.
A Saudi official claimed the payments were in line with the Saudi custom of providing financial assistance to victims of crime.
Apparently dismissing allegations the payments were used to buy the family’s silence, the official added: ‘Such support is part of our custom and culture… it is not attached to anything else.’
Yesterday, Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry raised Mr Khashoggi’s killing exactly six months after the murder. She asked Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt what it would take for the Government to ‘finally, finally tell [Crown Prince Mohammad] bin Salman that he cannot keep getting away with murder’. Mr Hunt said the UK had been clear his killing was ‘fundamentally against our values and there has to be full accountability’.
The Saudi public prosecutor indicted 11 unnamed suspects in November, including five who could face the death penalty.