Khashoggi’s fiancée asks for accountability if he was killed - NYT

Hatice Cengiz, the fiancée to the Saudi journalist who has been missing in Turkey for nearly two weeks, has written an obituary-style op-ed on Jamal Khashoggi disappearance, which was published on Saturday by the New York Times and called for accountability if he was killed.

Khashoggi, a columnist for Washington Post, was last seen entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2, and fears have grown that he has been killed.

Unlike an op-ed Cengiz wrote for Washington Post earlier this week, in which she called U.S. President Donald Trump to investigate the issue, her last article openly mentioned the possible murder of Khashoggi.

“Had I known it would be the last time I would see Jamal, I would have rather entered the Saudi consulate myself,” she said. “The rest is history: He never walked out of that building. And with him, I also got lost there.”

Cengiz said if the allegations were right, and Khashoggi was murdered "by the errand boys of Mohammed bin Salman", he already became a "martyr."

Condemnation is not enough, according to Cengiz if Khashoggi was assassinated. "The people who took him from us, irrespective of their political positions, must be held accountable and punished to the full extent of the law," she



added.

Khashoggi is a Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist who was formerly close to Saudi Arabia’s royal family but had grown critical of Saudi policies in recent years.

"Jamal spoke up against oppression, but he paid for the Saudi people’s demand for freedom with his own life. If he is dead, and I hope that is not the case, thousands of Jamals will be born today, on his birthday. His voice and his ideas will reverberate, from Turkey to Saudi Arabia, and across the world. Oppression never lasts forever. Tyrants eventually pay for their sins."

The Saudi journalist had been living in a self-imposed exile in Washington D.C. for over a year when he went to the Saudi consulate on Oct. 2 to obtain a document that would allow him to marry Cengiz.  He was videotaped entering the building, but no evidence has emerged to prove that he left.

Turkish authorities say Khashoggi was murdered in the consulate by a Saudi team that arrived Istanbul the same day and his body was subsequently moved out of the consulate.

The Saudi authorities deny any involvement in Khashoggi’s disappearance and say the journalist left the consulate alive.

Turkish officials, on the other hand, say they have audio and video recordings that prove Khashoggi was killed by the Saudi team.