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A demonstrator holds a poster with a picture of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi outside the Saudi Arabia consulate in Istanbul
A demonstrator holds a poster with a picture of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi outside the Saudi Arabia consulate in Istanbul Photograph: Osman Örsal/Reuters
A demonstrator holds a poster with a picture of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi outside the Saudi Arabia consulate in Istanbul Photograph: Osman Örsal/Reuters

Saudi Arabia paying Jamal Khashoggi's children thousands each month – report

This article is more than 4 years old

Four children of murdered journalist have also been given houses to ensure they ‘continue to show restraint in their public statements’

The four children of murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi have received homes and multi-million dollar payments from the kingdom in the months since a government sanctioned hit squad was sent to Istanbul to kill him, a report has claimed.

The payments have been made to Khashoggi’s two daughters and two sons in an effort to reach an accommodation with the family as outrage over the killing of the veteran journalist and adviser continues to reverberate.

The Washington Post, for whom Khashoggi had written in the 18 months before his death, reported on Tuesday that the compensation had aimed to ensure that the family “continue to show restraint in their public statements”.

In the six months since Khashoggi was killed and dismembered inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, his two adult sons have spoken in public about his death only once. In a measured CNN interview in November, Salah and Abdullah Khashoggi did not blame heir to the Saudi throne, Mohammed bin Salman – who is widely believed to have ordered the assassination.

Since Saudi Arabia belatedly confessed to a role in the 3 October killing, the kingdom has insisted that the Crown Princehad been oblivious to a plot carried out by a 15-man team, which included members of his security detail.

Eleven members of the alleged hit squad have been put on trial in Riyadh, with five reported by Saudi news agencies to be facing death sentences. However, court sessions have been closed to the public. As the proceedings remain shrouded in secrecy, fears have been raised that the trial process may be designed to protect the accused assassins, rather than to reveal how the plot was put together – and who ordered it.

Diplomats have been allowed to attend and have reported that several of the accused have entered not guilty pleas.

They include the head of forensics for the General Intelligence Department, Salah Muhammed al-Tubaigy, who is accused of cutting Khashoggi’s body into pieces moments after he was ambushed and strangled inside the consulate. Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb, a trusted security aide, and Ahmed al-Asiri, the deputy chief of intelligence, are also believed to be on trial.

Missing from the courtroom, however, is Saif Saad al-Qahtani, Prince Mohammed’s former communications chief and the man accused of putting together the plan, which has sparked six months of political ructions, and caused deep divisions within the royal court.

Qahtani has been stripped of his former titles but is thought to have lost little influence with Prince Mohammed. His absence from the courtroom has fed speculation that officials thought to be more dispensable are being set up as sacrificial lambs, in a bid to protect more influential figures.

While no single piece of evidence has directly linked Prince Mohammed to the assassination, the CIA concluded that he was likely aware of the plans.

Houses given to the four Khashoggi children are believed to be worth up to $4m (£3m) each, the Post reported. In addition, monthly stipends of around $10,000 are believed to have been paid.

The security chief of Amazon chief executive and Washington Post owner, Jeff Bezos, this week accused the Saudi government of hacking Bezos’s phone.

“Our investigators and several experts concluded with high confidence that the Saudis had access to Bezos’s phone, and gained private information,” said Gavin de Becker. “Some Americans will be surprised to learn that the Saudi government has been very intent on harming Jeff Bezos since last October, when the Post began its relentless coverage of Khashoggi’s murder.”

US President, Donald Trump, had made reaching out to Saudi Arabia and empowerment of Prince Mohammed a central plank of his foreign policy. Since Khashoggi’s murder he has been accused of protecting Prince Mohammed and putting US trade and regional interests ahead of establishing the truth about the case.

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