Missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s lover says those behind disappearance ‘must be punished’

Fiancee of a Saudi journalist who has been missing for nearly two weeks has said those behind his disappearance “must be held accountable and punished to the full extent of the law”, TOPNAIJA.NG can confirm.

Jamal Khashoggi, who has been an outspoken critic of the Saudi government, went missing after he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey.

Turkish officials believe the 59-year-old was murdered by a Saudi “assassination squad” at the consulate – a charge Saudi Arabia has condemned as “lies and baseless allegations” against the kingdom.

Mr Khashoggi “was a patriot”, his soon-to-be wife, Hatice Cengiz, wrote in The New York Times. “When people referred to him as a dissident, he would reject that definition. ‘I am an independent journalist using his pen for the good of his country,’ he would say.

“He left Saudi Arabia because it was the only way he could write and speak about issues and ideas that he cared about, and to work without compromising his dignity.”

Mr Khashoggi’s alleged torture and death may have been recorded on his Apple Watch, a Turkish newspaper report said on Saturday.

The pro-government, privately owned daily Sabah said the watch had synced with his iPhone, which he had left outside the consulate with his fiancee.

Mr Khashoggi’s fiancee said: “Jamal spoke up against oppression, but he paid for the Saudi people’s demand for freedom with his own life.”

She added: “Oppression never lasts forever. Tyrants eventually pay for their sins.”

It comes as the shadow foreign secretary, Emily Thornberry, said the UK must apply the same standards to Saudi Arabia as it does to Russia and hold the state to account over the disappearance of Mr Khashoggi.

In an interview with the BBC’s Andrew Marr programme, the Labour MP said “the balance of evidence” suggested Saudi Arabia had killed the journalist.

“We would stop selling arms to Saudi Arabia in current circumstances until they changed their ways … We would be making it clear that we disagreed,” she said. “I think our country has had enough of this. I think we have to stand up to them and have to say that the current behaviour is unacceptable.”