Jamal Khashoggi's sons appeal for return of his body

(Image credit: Getty Images)

last updated 5 November 2018

Salah and Abdullah Khashoggi, the sons of slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi, made an appeal on Sunday for the return of their father's body.

Khashoggi was killed in October inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Turkish officials say he was murdered by a 15-person hit squad that came from Saudi Arabia; Saudi Arabia, after initially saying the country knew nothing about Khashoggi's death, has since revised its story to first say he was accidentally killed, then announced he was the victim of a premeditated murder. "It's not a normal situation, it's not a normal death at all," Salah Khashoggi told CNN.

Turkish officials have said they are searching for Khashoggi's remains. The family wants to be able to bury Khashoggi in a cemetery in Medina, Saudi Arabia, with other relatives. "I talked about that with the Saudi authorities and I just hope that it happens soon," Salah Khashoggi said. His father was a "moderate person," he said, with his brother adding, "Jamal was never a dissident. He believed in the monarchy that it is the thing that is keeping the country together. And he believed in the transformation that it is going through." The brothers, who have two younger sisters, want people to remember their father as being "courageous, generous, and very brave."

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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