Jamal Khashoggi Murder: Journalist's Fiancee Accuses Saudi Crown Prince Of Ordering Killing

The fiancee of slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi has filed a lawsuit against Saudi Arabia's crown prince in a US court, accusing him of ordering the killing.

Hatice Cengiz and the rights group Khashoggi formed before his death are pursuing Mohammed bin Salman and more than 20 others for a plot to murder the US-based journalist and democracy advocate.

Reuters

Khashoggi was killed by a team of Saudi agents during a visit to the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, in 2018. The crown prince has denied ordering the killing. Khashoggi was a prominent critic of the Saudi government and had been living in self-imposed exile in the US, frequently writing for the Washington Post.

What the lawsuit says

In the civil lawsuit filed in Washington DC on Tuesday, Turkish citizen Cengiz claims personal injury and financial losses over Khashoggi's death. Khashoggi's human rights group, Democracy for the Arab World Now (Dawn), says its operations were hampered.

AFP

"This brutal and brazen crime was the culmination of weeks of planning and conspiratorial actions taken collectively by Defendants and their co- conspirators," the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit alleges that Khashoggi was murdered "pursuant to a directive of defendant Mohammed bin Salman".

AFP

"The objective of the murder was clear - to halt Mr Khashoggi's advocacy in the United States... for democratic reform in the Arab world," the lawsuit says.

Those named along with the crown prince include Saud-Al-Qahtani a former senior adviser to Crown Prince Mohammed, who allegedly orchestrated the killing ¨C reportedly giving orders to Khashoggi's assailants via Skype.

"Jamal believed anything was possible in America and I place my trust in the American civil justice system to obtain a measure of justice and accountability," Cengiz said in a statement.

Who was Jamal Khashoggi?

A prominent Saudi journalist, Khashoggi covered major stories, including the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the rise of the late al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, for various Saudi news organisations.

AFP

For decades, the 59-year-old was close to the Saudi royal family and also served as an adviser to the government.

But he fell out of favour and went into self-imposed exile in the US in 2017. From there, he wrote a monthly column in the Washington Post in which he criticised the policies of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the son of King Salman and Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler.

How was Khashoggi killed?

He was last seen entering the Saudi consulate on 2 October 2018 to obtain papers he needed in order to marry Cengiz.

The journalist was forcibly restrained after a struggle and injected with a large amount of a drug, resulting in an overdose that led to his death, according to the Saudi prosecution. His body was then dismembered and handed over to a local "collaborator" outside the consulate.

Turkish prosecutors concluded that Khashoggi was suffocated almost as soon as he entered the consulate, and that his body was destroyed. The remains were never found.

Ever since the Riyadh Criminal Court sentenced five people to death. Three others were handed prison sentences totalling 24 years. Three people were found not guilty, including Saudi Arabia's former deputy intelligence chief, Ahmad Asiri. Saud al-Qahtani was investigated by the Saudi public prosecution but not charged.