Son of murdered journalist Khashoggi leaves Saudi Arabia for US

In this photo released by Saudi Press Agency, SPA, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, right, shakes hands with Salah Khashoggi, a son, of Jamal Khashoggi, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2018. Saudi Arabia, which for weeks maintained that Jamal Khashoggi had left the Istanbul consulate, on Saturday acknowledged he was killed there in a “fistfight.” (Saudi Press Agency via AP)

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia —The eldest son of murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Salah, and his family have left the Gulf kingdom for the United States after the government lifted a travel ban, Human Rights Watch said Thursday.

“Salah and his family are on a plane to (Washington) DC now,” Sarah Leah Whitson, the rights watchdog’s executive director for the Middle East and North Africa, told AFP, citing a family friend.

There was no immediate comment from Saudi officials, but Whitson said they were apparently allowed to leave after a travel ban on Salah was lifted.

Salah, a dual US-Saudi citizen, will join his other siblings who are based in the US, friends of the family told AFP.

“Jamal’s family needs a place to be together where they feel safe to mourn their beloved one,” said Randa Slim, director of conflict resolution at the Washington-based Middle East Institute, who knew the slain journalist personally.

“It is tragic that it took his death to get the Saudi authorities to grant them the freedom to travel,” Slim told AFP.

Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributor, was killed on October 2 after a visit to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to obtain paperwork before marrying his Turkish fiancée.

After first insisting Khashoggi left the consulate unharmed, Saudi authorities said he was killed in an argument that degenerated into a brawl.

Riyadh finally accepted on Thursday what Turkey had said virtually from the start — that he was killed in a premeditated hit.

An official in Washington said US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had “raised the safety and security of the Khashoggi family members with the Saudi leadership”, but declined to discuss the specifics of Salah’s travel.

His departure comes after Saudi King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met Salah and Khashoggi’s brother Sahel at the royal palace in Riyadh on Tuesday to offer their condolences.

A state media photo showing Salah staring coldly at the prince as the pair shook hands went viral on social media, where rights activists demanded the immediate lifting of the travel ban.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has vowed to go after those behind Khashoggi’s “savage murder,” while Turkish media have published gruesome details of his alleged torture and decapitation.

Whitson said the lifting of the travel ban on Salah and his family was a huge relief.

But she added: “We should keep in mind there are hundreds, if not thousands, of people in Saudi Arabia who face travel bans and are held in detention without any justice.”

Saudi Arabia has sought to draw a line under the crisis over Khashoggi’s murder, but has come under mounting pressure from sceptical world powers demanding answers and the whereabouts of his body.

US President Donald Trump has derided the killing as “one of the worst cover-ups” in history. /kga