Slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi's family has reportedly received million-dollar houses and a five-figure payment on a monthly basis as compensation from the Saudi government. Khashoggi's two sons and two daughters may also receive much larger payouts as part of the "blood money" negotiations that are expected to ensue when the trial of the killers are completed in the coming months, The Washington Post reports.
The previously undisclosed payments are part of an effort by Saudi Arabia to reach a long-term arrangement with Khashoggi's family. It is aimed in part at ensuring that they continue to show restraint in their public statements about the killing of their father by Saudi operatives in Istanbul last year.
Khashoggi's death had provoked global outrage and it was claimed that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was behind the murder. But even under those circumstances, the Khashoggi family abstained from cacophonous claims against Saudi Arabia and its rulers.
According to The Washington Post, the crown prince had given houses worth $4 million. Payments of $10,000 were also provided as an acknowledgement that a big injustice had been done and an attempt was to make a wrong right.
According to reports, Salah resides in Saudi and the rest of his family is settled in the United States. It is being said that only the elder son is planning on keeping the house and the other siblings will probably sell the house.
Jamal Khashoggi, a prominent journalist, columnist and author, was killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, in October 2018. Although the Saudi government initially denied the death and claimed that Khashoggi had left the consulate alive, they later said that he died inside the consulate while engaging in a fight.
