The sons of murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi have appealed to Riyadh to return the body of their father so that the grieving family can bury him in a cemetery in the holy city of Medina with the rest of his clan.
Khashoggi was brutally killed inside Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul by a hit squad sent from Riyadh on October 2.
Authorities in Turkey are still searching for Khashoggi's remains. Last week, the Turkish chief prosecutor's office said the 60-year-old's body was dismembered after he was strangled, while the Washington Post reported investigators were looking into the theory that the body was dissolved in acid.
Salah and Abdullah Khashoggi, who called their father "courageous, generous and very brave," said they have endured weeks of anguish and uncertainty following his disappearance and death.
"I really hope that whatever happened wasn't painful for him, or it was quick. Or he had a peaceful death," Abdullah Khashoggi, 33, told CNN in Washington with his brother, Salah, 35.
Without their father's body, the brothers say their family is unable to grieve or find closure.
"All what we want right now is to bury him in Al-Baqi (cemetery) in Medina (Saudi Arabia) with the rest of his family," Salah said.
"I talked about that with the Saudi authorities and I just hope that it happens soon."
"I see a lot of people coming out right now and trying to claim his legacy and unfortunately some of them are using that in a political way that we totally don't agree with."
"Public opinion is important... but my fear is that it's being over politicised. People are throwing analysis that may direct us away from the truth."
"Jamal was never a dissident. He believed in the monarchy that it is the thing that is keeping the country together. And he believed in the transformation that it is going through."
Asked how Khashoggi should be remembered, Salah replied, "as a moderate man who has common values with everyone... a man who loved his country, who believed so much in it and its potential."
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