London (AFP)

Lawyers for Hatice Cengiz, the fiancé of journalist Jamal Kashoggi, murdered at the end of 2018 in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, wrote Tuesday to the Premier League asking him to oppose the takeover of Newcastle by an investment fund Saudi so as not to "tarnish his reputation".

Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributor and critic of the Saudi regime after being close to him, was murdered and his body cut to pieces in October 2018 at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul where he went to retrieve a document.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, known as "MBS" - who heads the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF) which leads the consortium candidate for the takeover of the Magpies for 300 million pounds (345 M EJUR) - had been appointed by officials Turkish and American as the murder sponsor.

Five Saudis were sentenced to death last year after an opaque trial in Saudi Arabia. But a month ago, the Turkish justice system had launched prosecutions against twenty people including two close to MBS, the former adviser Saoud al-Qahtani and the former number two of the intelligence, the general Ahmed al-Assiri, identified as the murder sponsors.

In their letter made public, lawyers for Hatice Cengiz believe that rejecting the offer to purchase which would see the PIF take 80% of Newcastle's capital would be a "fair, appropriate and legitimate decision".

"There should be no place in the Premier League and in English football for anyone involved in such heinous acts" like the assassination of Khashoggi, they add.

"The standing of the English first division and of English football in general would be tarnished" if the green light was given to "those who seek to whitewash and use English football to improve their image and hide their misdeeds".

The human rights NGO Amnesty International had already written to the Premier League last week to denounce an attempt at "laundering" behind the takeover.

The Premier League has yet to decide on the offer and in particular to verify that potential buyers meet its criteria through a series of reviews of shareholders and future managers.

The British government, through the voice of Oliver Dowden, the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sports, estimated last week that he was returning to the Premier League, not the government, "to judge someone's good character".

© 2020 AFP