Saudi King and Crown Prince meet Khashoggi family
Saudi King and Crown Prince meet Khashoggi familyReuters

Saudi Arabia has compensated the children of murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi with "million-dollar houses in the kingdom and monthly five-figure payments," according to a Washington Post report.

Khashoggi left two sons and two daughters who were all granted $4 million houses in Jiddah in a shared compound in which the oldest son, Salah Khashoggi, currently resides. Salah will continue to reside in the Saudi kingdom, according to the Post, but his siblings live in the United States and will probably sell their newly acquired properties.

The Khashoggi children may still receive even more money from the Saudi government - "possibly tens of millions of dollars apiece" - after Khashoggi's alleged killers are sentenced. The money will be granted as “blood money” negotiations, a common phenomenon in the Middle East. “Such support is part of our custom and culture,” a Saudi official said according to the Post. “It is not attached to anything else.”

The Post says that the compensation was approved in 2018 by King Salmon to ensure that the Khashoggi family maintains their silence to the public about their father's murder, which sparked widespread ire and unprecedented international criticism of the Saudi kingdom and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The Post says that the siblings' restraint is due to Salah's wish to continue living in Jiddah.

Khashoggi was murdered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018. After initially denying the claims and facing an international outcry, Saudi Arabia finally admitted that Khashoggi was murdered in the consulate "after a brawl broke out."

Khashoggi, 59, was a former government advisor who exiled himself to the United States after Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman rose to power in 2017 due to his public criticism of the monarchy's arrest of its critics.