Mon 07 September 2020:
Unidentified defendants instead handed between seven and 20 years in prison over the journalist’s murder in Turkey.
RIYADH – The Saudi Public Prosecution convicted eight people in the murder case of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was killed in his country’s consulate in Istanbul nearly two years ago.
The semi-official Al-Arabiya TV channel reported that five were sentenced to 20 years in prison, while three others received jail sentences between seven and ten years.
“The Saudi prosecution has confirmed that the personal right in the Khashoggi case ended with a legal waiver/pardon by the relatives of murdered [Khashoggi],” Al-Arabiya reported.
Overturns death sentences
A Saudi court on Monday overturned five death sentences over dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s killing, a final ruling in the case that saw the Washington Post columnist killed and dismembered by a Saudi hit squad.
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.
Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington Post, was killed and dismembered by a group of Saudi operatives shortly after he entered the country’s consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2, 2018.
Riyadh offered various, conflicting narratives to explain his disappearance before acknowledging he was murdered in the diplomatic building, while seeking to shift blame for his death on a botched rendition operation carried out by rogue agents. Khashoggi’s body has never been found.
UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions Agnes Callamard concluded in a report that Khashoggi’s murder was a “deliberate, premeditated execution” and encouraged an investigation into a possible role of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman in the killing.
Saudi officials, however, insisted that the crown prince was not involved in the murder.
Saudi Arabia announced at the end of last year that five people were sentenced to death for taking part in Khashoggi’s murder.
The assassination of Khashoggi – a US resident – prompted a worldwide backlash against Saudi Arabia and caused lasting damage to MBS’s image in the international arena.
Ankara’s ties with Riyadh came under intense strain after the journalist’s killing as he was an acquaintance of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
In March, Turkish prosecutors indicted 20 Saudi nationals over Khashoggi’s murder, including two former senior aides to Prince Mohammed, the kingdom’s de facto ruler.
According to the indictment, Saudi Arabia’s former deputy intelligence chief Ahmed al-Assiri is accused of establishing a hit team and planning the murder.
with Anadolu agency | AL JAZEERA
