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A Saudi court overturned five death sentences for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in a final ruling that sentenced eight defendants to between seven and 20 years, state media reported.
“Five of those convicted were sentenced to 20 years in prison and three others were imprisoned for 7 to 10 years,” the official Saudi press agency said, citing a spokesman for the prosecutor.
None of the defendants were named in what was described as the final court ruling on the homicide that had sparked an international outcry.
The verdict came after Khashoggi’s sons said in May that they had “forgiven” the killers, a move that a UN expert condemned as a “parody of justice.”
The family’s pardon saved the lives of five anonymous people sentenced to death for the 2018 murder in a December court ruling, which was criticized by human rights groups after two top advisers to the crown prince were exonerated.
Khashoggi, a member of the royal family turned critic, was assassinated and dismembered at the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul in October 2018, in a case that tarnished the reputation of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler.
Khashoggi, a 59-year-old critic of the crown prince, was strangled and his body hacked to pieces by a 15-man Saudi squad inside the consulate, according to Turkish officials. His remains have not been found.
Riyadh has described the assassination as a “rogue” operation, but both the CIA and a special envoy from the United Nations have directly linked Prince Mohammed (below) to the murder, an accusation the kingdom vehemently denies.
UN expert rejects ruling, Khashoggi’s fiancee calls it a ‘farce’
Khashoggi’s fiancee called the court’s ruling a “sham.”
“Today’s ruling in Saudi Arabia once again makes a total mockery of justice,” Hatice Cengiz said in a statement posted on Twitter, adding: “The international community will not accept this farce.”
A UN expert dismissed the ruling, especially denouncing that the senior officials who allegedly ordered his assassination had gone free.
“The Saudi prosecutor made one more act today in this parody of justice. But these verdicts have no legal or moral legitimacy,” said the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Agnes Callamard in a tweet.
He denounced the fact that “the high-level officials who organized and agreed to the execution … have walked free from the beginning,” and that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman “has remained well protected against any significant scrutiny in his country. “.
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