NEW DELHI: Absentee funeral prayers (salat al-ghaeb) for slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi held in the holy mosques of Madinah and Makkah on Friday.
Video footage of the twin funeral prayers held at Madina’s Al-Masjid al-Nabawi (Mosque of the Prophet) and at Makkah have since been widely circulated on social media.
https://twitter.com/mjkurdi/status/1063368732137988096
فيديو / قبل قليل تمت صلاة الجنازة على الميت الغائب (جمال خاشقجي) رحمة الله في الحرم المكي 🕋#جمال_خاشقجي#الحرم#مكة pic.twitter.com/owFBiYyYiI
— الزيادي (@AlziadiQ8) November 16, 2018
Salah Khashoggi, the son of the Washington Post columnist announced on Twitter that the family has given up hope of recovering his body who was killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2.
“The prayer for the absent will be held for the deceased Jamal Khashoggi after Friday prayers at the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah, and after Friday prayers at the Grand Mosque in Mecca,” Salah Khashoggi said in a tweet on Thursday.
ستقام صلاة الغائب على الفقيد #جمال_خاشقجي بعد صلاة فجر الجمعة في المسجد النبوي الشريف بالمدينة المنورة، وبعد صلاة الجمعة بالمسجد الحرام بمكة المكرمة.
— salah khashoggi (@salahkhashoggi) November 15, 2018
In the absence of a body, the crowd gathered in front of an empty place traditionally reserved for the coffin at Fatih mosque, AFP journalists reported.
Funeral prayers for the 59-year-old Washington Post contributor were also held at the Fatih Mosque in the Turkish city of Istanbul and also at Jakarta’s Abu Bakar Ash Shiddiq Mosque on Friday.
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The Saudis had presented conflicting stories about the journalist’s death, initially denying any knowledge before arguing that a group of rogue operators were responsible for his death.
After the kingdom admitted that Khashoggi was killed in its consulate in Turkey, five high-ranking officials were dismissed, including Bin Salman’s media chief and the deputy head of the Saudi intelligence service, and 18 people were arrested.
“Saudi Arabia speaks of the execution of some involved in the crime, but we do not want their execution. What we want is, this cruelty, this barbarism and those who committed that brutality, to be prosecuted,” said Turan Kislakci, head of the Turkish-Arab Media Association, in Istanbul.
“All those involved in the crime should be brought to justice.”