Five people have been sentenced to death by a court in Saudi Arabia over the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi last year.
Three others have been jailed over the case.
Jamal Khashoggi, 59, a prominent critic of the Saudi government, was killed inside the kingdom’s consulate in the Turkish city of Istanbul by a team of Saudi agents.
According to the Saudi authorities, the incident was the result of a “rogue operation” and put 11 unnamed individuals on trial.
The prince denied any involvement, but i
In October, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman he said he took “full responsibility as a leader in Saudi Arabia, especially since it was committed by individuals working for the Saudi government”.
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A senior aide to the crown prince, Saud al-Qahtani, was sacked and investigated over the killing but not charged “due to insufficient evidence”, the public prosecution said. Former Deputy Intelligence Chief Ahmad Asiri was put on trial but acquitted on the same grounds.
The Turkish foreign ministry said the decision of the Saudi court “falls short of the expectations of Turkey and the international community for the clarification of all aspects of this murder and the serving of justice”.
Jamal Khashoggi’s fiancée, Hatice Cengiz, called the Saudi announcement “not acceptable”.
The publisher of the Washington Post, for whom Jamal Khashoggi wrote columns, said: “The complete lack of transparency and the Saudi government’s refusal to co-operate with independent investigators suggests that this was merely a sham trial.”
However, Jamal Khashoggi’s son Salah, who lives in Saudi Arabia, tweeted: “We affirm our confidence in the Saudi judiciary at all levels, that it has been fair to us and that justice has been achieved.”
Jamal Khashoggi, who went into self-imposed exile in the US in 2017, was last seen entering the Saudi consulate on October 2, 2018, to obtain papers he needed to marry Hatice Cengiz.
