The son of the murdered journalist Khashoggi leaves Saudi Arabia for the United States

RIYADH: The eldest son of murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Salah, and his family left the Gulf kingdom for Washington after the lifting of the government-imposed ban on residence, Human Rights Watch said.

Salah Khashoggi's departure comes after he was photographed on Tuesday with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during a condolence visit, watching them coldly as the two men shook hands.

"Salah and his family are on a plane bound for (Washington) DC," AFP Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of the human rights watchdog for the Middle East, told AFP. East and North Africa, citing a friend of the family.

The pro-government Okaz newspaper of Saudi Arabia stated that Salah, a Saudi-American dual citizen, had left the kingdom on Wednesday without providing any details.

The Saudi authorities did not respond to requests for comment, but Whitson said that they had apparently been allowed to leave after the lifting of the travel ban imposed on Salah.

Salah will join her siblings based in the United States, family friends told FAP.

"Jamal's family needs a gathering place where she feels safe to mourn her beloved," said Randa Slim, director of conflict resolution at the Middle East Institute, based in Washington, who knew the murdered journalist personally.

"It is tragic that it took his death for the Saudi authorities to grant them the freedom to travel," Slim told AFP.

A Washington official said that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had "raised the safety of Khashoggi family members with Saudi rulers," but declined to discuss details of Salah's trip.

Jamal Khashoggi, a contributor to the Washington Post, was killed on October 2 after a visit to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to obtain documents before marrying his Turkish bride.

After initially insisting that Khashoggi leave the consulate unscathed, the Saudi authorities claimed that he had been killed during a dispute that had degenerated into a fight.

Riyadh finally agreed on Thursday what Turkey had practically declared from the beginning, namely that he had been killed by a premeditated coup.

Saudi King Salman and Prince Mohammed met on Tuesday with Sahel brother of Salah and Khashoggi at the royal palace in Riyadh.

The photo of the handshake with Prince Mohammed, who has faced a wave of global criticism of the murder, has become viral on social media, where human rights activists have demanded the immediate lifting of the travel ban.

Whitson said the end of Salah's travel restrictions had been a huge relief.

But she added: "We must keep in mind that there are hundreds, if not thousands of people in Saudi Arabia who are the object of A ban on traveling and are kept in detention without any justice ".

Saudi Arabia sought to wipe out the crisis surrounding Khashoggi's murder, but was under increasing pressure from skeptical world powers demanding answers and locating his body.

US President Donald Trump has called the badbadination "one of the worst cover-ups" in history.