Turkey puts fiancee of slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi under 24-hour protection

A frame grab from a police CCTV video allegedly shows Ms Hatice Cengiz (circled), fiancee of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, waiting outside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, on Oct 2, 2018. PHOTO: EPA-EFE

ISTANBUL (REUTERS) - Turkish authorities have put the fiancee of slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi under 24-hour police protection, the state-run Anadolu news agency said on Sunday (Oct 21).

Mr Khashoggi, a United States resident and Washington Post columnist, disappeared on Oct 2 after he walked into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to obtain documents for his upcoming marriage to Ms Hatice Cengiz.

For weeks, Saudi Arabia denied knowledge of what happened to him, initially claiming Mr Khashoggi had left the building.

Last Saturday (Oct 20), Riyadh said he was killed in a fist fight in the consulate. The Saudi foreign minister has since called his death a "huge and grave mistake".

The Istanbul governor's office has put Ms Cengiz, a Turkish national, under 24-hour police protection, Anadolu said. The authorities did not immediately respond to a request for comment on what prompted the decision to give her a security detail.

On the day Mr Khashoggi disappeared, Ms Cengiz waited for hours outside the consulate for him and, when he did not return, got in touch with the authorities as he had instructed her to do, she later said.

After Saudi Arabia confirmed his death, she wrote on Twitter in Arabic: "They have taken your body from this world, but your beautiful smile will stay in my world forever."

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