Daily Times

Saudi Arabia has sought to draw a line under the crisis, and a rights group said Thursday that authorities had allowed Khashoggi’s eldest son Salah and his family to leave the country after lifting a travel ban.

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But the kingdom still faces mounting pressure from sceptical world powers demanding answers and to know the whereabouts of Khashoggi’s body.

“Information from the Turkish authorities indicates that the act of the suspects in the Khashoggi case was premeditated,” the office of public prosecutor Sheikh Saud al-Mojeb said in a statement carried by the state-run Saudi Press Agency.

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“The public prosecution continues its investigation with suspects… to complete the course of justice.

Khashoggi was the victim of an “extrajudicial execution” committed by the Saudi state, UN expert Agnes Callamard said Thursday, calling for an international investigation.

Separately, CIA Director Gina Haspel briefed Trump on the latest developments in the investigation of the killing after a fact-finding mission to Turkey.

“His family also wants to know and pay their final tribute.”

– Slow drip of admissions –

The slow drip of Saudi admissions cast a pall over a showcase three-day investment forum that ended on Thursday, with organisers putting a brave face on the array of no-shows among big-name guests.

The Saudi energy minister said foreign companies which boycotted the Future Investment Forum (FII) had “apologised” and vowed to restore normal relations.

A long list of investors and international policymakers declined to attend the conference, nicknamed “Davos in the desert”, amid growing outrage over the Khashoggi murder.

Siemens chief executive Joe Kaeser, corporate chiefs from JP Morgan, Ford and Uber, and media powerhouses like CNN and the Financial Times all scrapped plans to attend.

Ministers from Britain, France and the United States also stayed away.

– Travel ban lifted –

In his first public comments on the case on Wednesday, Saudi Arabia’s powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman denounced the “repulsive” murder and pledged that “justice will prevail”.

The departure of Khashoggi’s son, Salah, for Washington came after he was photographed on Tuesday with Prince Mohammed during a condolence visit, staring coldly as the pair shook hands.

The photo went viral on social media, where rights activists demanded the immediate lifting of the travel ban.

There was no immediate comment from Saudi officials, but Human Rights Watch Middle East director Sarah Leah Whitson told AFP they were apparently allowed to leave after the ban was lifted.

Salah, a dual US-Saudi citizen, will be joined in the United States by his other siblings who are based there, 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.

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.