A day after offering condolences by phone, Saudi Arabia’s King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met with the son of slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi at Al Yamamah Palace in Riyadh.
Images and video released by the state-run Saudi Press Agency show the King and the Crown Prince shaking the hand of the journalist’s relatives, Sahl bin Ahmad Khashoggi and Salah bin Jamal Khashoggi, as they “expressed their deepest condolences to the family”.
#صور | #خادم_الحرمين_الشريفين يستقبل سهل وصلاح خاشقجي.#واس pic.twitter.com/p3In2A5Lgx
— واس (@spagov) October 23, 2018
The visit came hours after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan insisted all those responsible for the former Riyadh insider turned critic’s murder must be held accountable. He added that the team of 15 who traveled to Turkey ahead of Khashoggi’s visit to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2 included “intelligence, security and forensic” officials include some of the ranks of general.
“Pinning such a case on some security and intelligence members will not satisfy us or the international community,” he told a weekly meeting of his party’s MPs.
Saudi Arabia has said that an unsanctioned team traveled to Riyadh to interrogate Khashoggi and he was killed in the process. Saud Al Qahtani, a senior aide to the Crown Prince, and Ahmed Al Assiri, deputy intelligence chief, were relieved from their positions after being accused of involvement in the operation and are being investigated for their role in the journalist’s death.
The Saudi government insists that the King and Crown Prince had no prior knowledge of the plan to kill Khashoggi and that those behind it attempted to cover up their actions, leading to the initial delay in the kingdom admitting that their nationals were behind the killing.
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