The fiancée of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and a human rights organization have filed suit in a US court against Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and 20 other Saudis. They have been guilty of a “brutal crime” that was the result of “weeks of preparation,” said fiancé Cengiz and human rights organization DAWN.
The Crown Prince is held partly responsible for the death of the journalist by Hatice Cengiz and the human rights organization that Khashoggi founded shortly before his death. It disappeared in October 2018, when he visited the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. He went to the building to arrange for his upcoming wedding, but was murdered. His body was cut to pieces, smuggled out and never found.
Khashoggi worked for The Washington Post and wrote critical columns about the Saudi regime and the Crown Prince. He said thinks he personally ordered the murder. Mohammed bin Salman last year denied that he was behind it. He did, however, take responsibility, because the murder was committed by Saudi government officials.
Indemnities
According to The Washington Post, lawyers for Cengiz and the human rights organization claim that the crown prince and more than 20 other defendants saw Khashoggi’s actions as a threat to their interests and therefore conspired to commit the murder. In addition, the lawyers want documents that would reveal the truth to be released.
Cengiz said in a video interview with a reporter, according to the American newspaper, that Bin Salman has murdered her imminent because he advocated democratic reforms in the Middle East and human rights for all. “And especially because he advocated for them in the United States.”
Khashoggi lived in exile in the United States for some time. Cengiz says she hopes for “a measure of justice and accountability through the US legal system.”
A Saudi judge initially sentenced five people to death for the murder of Khashoggi, but early last month that sentence was commuted to twenty years in prison. According to the prosecution, sentences have been reduced because relatives of Khashoggi have forgiven the perpetrators, but Cengiz has not done.
–
