Khashoggi fiancee speaks out after murder, demands justice, sincere efforts to solve case
| FILE Photo


The Turkish fiancee of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi said on Friday called for all those responsible for his murder to be brought to justice.

"I demand that all those involved in this savagery from the highest to the lowest levels are punished and brought to justice," Hatice Cengiz told the Haber Türk television station.

She also said she did not accept U.S. President Donald Trump's invitation to visit the White House because she thought it was aimed at influencing public opinion in his favor.

Cengiz said she would not go to the White House until the United States was sincere in its efforts to solve Khashoggi's killing, demanding that all those responsible be tried and punished.

She said Khashoggi had assumed Saudi authorities would not give him problems or arrest him in Turkey, though he was concerned tensions would arise when he visited the consulate in Istanbul.

Khashoggi did not want to go to the Saudi consulate, she said.

The murder of Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and U.S. resident, has spiraled into a crisis for Saudi Arabia and its powerful young ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

International pressure has increased on the Saudi leadership to come clean on the case, after Riyadh shifted its official explanation a number of times. In its latest version, the Saudi public prosecutor said the killing was premeditated, reversing an earlier statement that Khashoggi was killed accidentally in a fight at the consulate

"His local network in Turkey was very good as you know, his political network as well," Cengiz told Habertürk. "He thought Turkey is a safe country and if he would be held or interrogated, this issue would be swiftly solved."

Khashoggi was killed on Oct. 2 after entering the consulate to obtain a document that would allow him to remarry.

He was treated well during his first visit to the consulate on Sept. 28, Cengiz also told Habertürk.

Erdoğan urged Saudi Arabia on Friday to disclose who ordered Khashoggi's murder, as well as the location of his body, heightening international pressure on the kingdom to come clean on the case.