Executions Stayed After Saudi Arabia sentenced 5 to Death for Khashoggi Killing
Update: AP family of the victim had issued for the five previously sentenced to death, AlJazeera reported.:
“The court handed 20-year sentences to five people and three others were sentenced to between seven to 10 years, state media reported. The eight convicted were not identified.”
Saudi Arabia Sentences 5 to Death for Khashoggi Killing
By VOA News Dec 2019
A court in Saudi Arabia has sentenced five people to death and three others to prison in connection with last year’s killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at Riyadh’s consulate in Istanbul.
The public prosecutor said in a statement the death sentences were for those who committed and directly participated in the murder. Those sent to prison were given sentences “for their role in covering up this crime.”
The decision Monday came after largely secret proceedings that also cleared Saud al-Qahtani, the former top aide to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, of being involved in Khashoggi’s death.
Paris-based media rights watchdog Reporters Without Borders said justice was “trampled” by the decision.
“We can interpret [the decision] as a means to permanently silence the suspects, a way to prevent them from speaking to better cover up the truth,” the group’s head, Christophe Deloire wrote on Twitter Monday.
Turkey condemned the decision as “far from justice.”
It is not only a legal but also a conscientious responsibility to shed light on this murder committed in our territory and to punish all those responsible,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry said.
The Washington Post columnist and prominent critic of the Saudi government was slain and dismembered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018.
Saudi Arabia initially denied the killing took place, insisting Khashoggi had walked out of the consulate. It later blamed rogue agents and has denied the crown prince had any knowledge of the operation.
United Nations extrajudicial executions investigator Agnes Callamard issued a report in June that found “credible evidence” linking Prince Mohammed to the killing.
The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency has also assessed the crown prince ordered the killing.