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While the five have been sentenced to 20 years in prison, another three have been sentenced to between seven and ten years in prison, for which the supreme prosecutor of the kingdom considers that the case is closed. None of the eight have been named and the trial has been closed.
– These judgments have no legal or moral legitimacy, tweets Agnès Callamard, UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions and killings.
The Saudi journalist critical of the regime was assassinated after entering the consulate of the country of origin in Istanbul on October 2, 2018.
Background: Has the crown prince of Saudi Arabia finally gone too far for the West?
Sanctions
The murder received massive attention and did significant damage to the reputation of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Its employees have been sanctioned by both the United States and the United Kingdom for their alleged role in the liquidation.
Callamard notes in particular that those who allegedly ordered the murder are released. He is now asking US intelligence to publish its assessments of the Crown Prince’s responsibilities.
Callamard has investigated the assassination and, like the CIA and others, has concluded that the Saudi state is responsible.
Sorry
Khashoggi’s Turkish fiancé, Hatice Cengiz, calls the verdict a sham that the world community will not accept.
The sentence handed down today in Saudi Arabia is a complete mockery of justice, tweets Cengiz.
Death sentences from December last year were replaced by prison sentences after Khashoggi’s son said this spring that the family has forgiven those who killed his father.
The son still lives in Saudi Arabia and has received financial compensation from the court following the murder of his father.
Absolutions
Khashoggi’s remains have never been found and the killing sparked strong reactions both in Turkey and in other parts of the world.
“The Saudi authorities are closing the case without the world knowing the truth about who is responsible for the murder of Jamal,” Cengiz said.
– Who planned it, who ordered it, where is the body? These are the most important questions that remain completely unanswered, he adds.
US intelligence has concluded with “medium to high security” that the assassination was ordered by the 35-year-old crown prince of Saudi Arabia, who is the real leader of the country.
Bin Salman denies knowing of the assassination plans and still has the support of both his father, King Salman, and the president of the United States, Donald Trump.
At court in December, two of the Crown Prince’s top advisers were acquitted.
Commitment
Khashoggi was once part of the royal family circle. Before his death, he had written critical articles on Mohammed bin Salman for the Washington Post. He had lived in exile in the United States for about a year while the Crown Prince cracked down on human rights activists, writers, and critics of Saudi Arabia’s devastating war in Yemen.
Khashoggi’s errand at the Istanbul consulate was to obtain the papers she needed to marry her fiancé, who was waiting for him outside. Inside the building, the 59-year-old man was strangled to death and then separated by a group of 15 officers inside the consulate, according to Turkish authorities.
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