In CNN interview, sons call their father 'courageous, generous and very brave,' and say they have endured weeks of anguish since his killing
The sons of murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi issued an emotional appeal for the return of their father's body, in their first interview since he was killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul a month ago.
Salah and Abdullah Khashoggi, who called their father "courageous, generous and very brave," said they have endured weeks of anguish and uncertainty following his disappearance and death.
"I really hope that whatever happened wasn't painful for him, or it was quick. Or he had a peaceful death," Abdullah Khashoggi, 33, told CNN during a sit-down interview in Washington with his brother, Salah, 35.
Authorities in Turkey -- who say Khashoggi was murdered by a hit squad sent from Riyadh -- are still searching for the journalist's remains. Khashoggi went to the consulate to retrieve paperwork for his pending marriage and never emerged from the building. The Saudis' story has changed repeatedly since that time, with the country's public prosecutor saying last week that Khashoggi's killing was premeditated.
Khashoggi was tortured, murdered and then dismembered in the consulate, Turkish officials have told Middle East Eye, and a senior aide to Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that the journalist's body had been dissolved in acid.
Erdogan slammed Saudi Arabia over its handling of the slaying in a Washington Post column published on Friday, saying the order to kill the exiled Saudi journalist was ordered at "the highest levels of the Saudi government".
Still, his article made no mention of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is seen as the kingdom's de-facto ruler.
EXCLUSIVE: The sons of murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi issue an emotional appeal for the return of their father's body https://t.co/l4zw3ODyb4 pic.twitter.com/tlfFEqvLsW
— CNN International (@cnni) November 4, 2018
Critics have accused bin Salman, also known as MBS, of being involved in Khashoggi's killing, though the Saudis have strongly denied that he had any knowledge of the murder or its subsequent cover-up.
Without their father's body, the brothers say their family is unable to grieve or find closure.
Image : Man lights candles for Jamal Khashoggi outside the Saudi Arabia consulate in Istanbul (AFP)
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