Funeral prayer held for Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul

A funeral prayer was held here on Friday for the murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Around 500 people, including political figures and friends of Khashoggi from different parts of the world, gathered in the city's Fatih Mosque to commemorate the slain journalist with a final prayer, Xinhua news agency reported.

Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and a supporter-turned-critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, was killed on October 2 inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.

After weeks of denying any involvement in the crime, Saudi Arabia later admitted that Khashoggi was killed inside the consulate but claimed the royal family had no prior knowledge of any plot to murder the journalist.

His body has yet to be returned to his family, which has been requesting its return, amid reports that it was chemically dissolved.

Speaking on the occasion, Yasin Aktay, a senior adviser to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan within the ruling Justice and Development Party, called for "justice" for the Saudi journalist.

According to Istanbul chief prosecutor, Khashoggi was strangled to death inside the Saudi mission and then his body was dismembered and destroyed.

On Thursday, Saudi Arabia's public prosecutor demanded the death penalty for five of the suspects in the murder of Khashoggi.

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