Tawakkol Karman attacks Khashoggi’s son for pardoning killers from death penalty

Yemeni activist Tawakkol Karman has criticized Salah
Khashoggi, the son of murdered Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi, for
pardoning his killers from the death penalty.
Khashoggi, a well-known Saudi journalist, was
murdered on October 20, 2018, at the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul. On
Friday, his son Salah released as statement saying that he and his brothers had
pardoned the killers of their father.
Under Saudi Arabian law, the family of the victim
has the right to pardon or grant clemency to the perpetrator. Once ratified,
this pardon prevents the perpetrator from receiving the death penalty.
But on Saturday, prominent Yemeni activist Tawakkol
Karman tweeted that it was not Salah’s “right” to “waive his father’s murder,”
and suggested the move had been motivated by financial reward from Saudi
Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman – known to some by the acronym MBS.
“When will Salah Khashoggi understand that it is not
his right to waive his father’s murder—#JamalKhashogg? It is not a crime
against him to waive it in an exchange for a villa from #MBS,” tweeted Karman.
“It is a crime against humanity and cannot be
classified otherwise, and thus only humanity decides what to do! I believe that
the moral consequences of the Khashoggi murder will hit the aging kingdom of
Salman. Time will prove me right! 2/2” added Karman.
Karman has been a frequent critic of Saudi Arabia
and a vocal supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood. She was previously a member of
the Islah Party, which many consider to be the Brotherhood’s Yemen branch.
The Muslim Brotherhood is designated as a terrorist
organization by Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and other countries.
Khashoggi’s trial and his son’s pardon
A Saudi Arabian court last December sentenced five
people to death for the murder of Khashoggi, and three others were sentenced to
a total of 24 years in jail.
Representatives of the embassies of the five
permanent members of the UN Security Council as well as a representative from
Turkey were present during the trials, according to the Public Prosecutor.
Khashoggi’s sons and their lawyer were also present during the trials.
Salah said at the time that he was confident in the
fairness of Saudi Arabia’s judicial system, after the public prosecution
sentenced five people to death and three others to a total of 24 years in jail
for the murder of his father.
“Today we have been granted justice as the children
of the deceased, God willing, Jamal Khashoggi. We affirm our confidence in the
Saudi judiciary at all levels, that it has been fair to us and that justice has
been achieved,” Salah said in a tweet.
Salah’s more recent statement that the family was
pardoning the perpetrators from the death penalty is in line with Saudi Arabian
law.
The family can choose to pardon the perpetrator for
any reason they see fit and pardons are given for a variety of reasons. During
the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, known in Islam as the month of forgiveness
and spirituality, public and private pardons are often instigated across the
Islamic world.
However, the clemency given by the family of a
victim in capital crimes does not absolve the perpetrator from responsibility
or punishment for the crime they have been found guilty of committing. The
perpetrator will still be sentenced accordingly under public law.
Karman’s Facebook controversy
Karman’s comments come shortly after she was at the
center of controversy over her appointment to Facebook’s Oversight Board for
content moderation.
Last week, the Twitter hashtag #Facebookcaliphate
was trending after Facebook appointed Karman as one of the initial 20 members
of its recently established “Oversight Board for Content Decisions,” the new
system for internally policing content on the world’s most popular social media
site.
“I am glad to join the Global Supervision Board for
Facebook and Instagram Content. Thanks to social media platforms, government
monopoly over the media and information is no longer possible,” Karman wrote on
Facebook.
“The role of social media networks is to
provide a platform, in which a user can benefit from the right of ‘free
speech’, however, free speech should not be confused with hate’” Tawakkol is
the quintessential extremist hiding behind the mask of activism!," tweeted
another.
In Twitter, Karman alleged she has been the victim
of a coordinated smear campaign against her.
“My mission is to defend freedom of expression and
human rights … to defend opponents before friends, and here is where I always
stand,” she added in a tweet.
Karman won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011 for her
role in the mass protests that led to the fall of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah
Saleh.
Following her award, the Muslim Brotherhood issued a
statement describing her as a “Yemeni Muslim Brotherhood member,” sparking
widespread criticism.
According to the National, the Yemeni Coalition for
Civil Society Organizations also criticized the decision at the time and
described her as a “war-monger not a peace messenger.”