Jamal Khashoggi was killed and dismembered at the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul in October 2018
Riyadh:
A Saudi court on Monday overturned five death sentences for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in a final ruling that sentenced eight defendants to seven to 20 years, state media reported.
The move comes after Khashoggi’s sons announced in May that they had “pardoned” the killers, paving the way for less severe punishment in a case that has sparked international outcry.
The verdict, which drew further condemnation from activists, underscores Saudi efforts to draw a line under the October 2018 murder as the kingdom seeks to restart its international image ahead of the November G20 summit in Riyadh.
“Five of the convicts were sentenced to 20 years in prison and three others were jailed for 7 to 10 years,” the official Saudi news agency said, quoting a spokesperson for the prosecutor.
None of the defendants were named in what has been described as the court’s final ruling on the murder, which has tarnished Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s worldwide reputation.
Khashoggi – a royal family insider turned critic – was killed and dismembered at the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul in October 2018, in a case that tarnished the reputation of the de facto prince, Prince Mohammed.
Khashoggi, a critic of the 59-year-old crown prince, was strangled and his body cut to pieces by a 15-man Saudi squad inside the consulate, according to Turkish officials. His remains have not been found.
Riyadh described the murder as a “rogue” operation, but the CIA and a United Nations special envoy directly linked Prince Mohammed to the murder, a charge the kingdom vehemently denies.
Agnès Callamard, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, called Monday’s decision “another act today in this parody of justice.”
“These verdicts have no legal or moral legitimacy,” Callamard wrote on Twitter. “They came to the end of a process that was neither fair, nor fair, nor transparent.”
‘Last nail in the coffin’
This view has been shared by other human rights activists.
“From the start, there has never been any intention to hold those responsible to account, only repeated cover-ups,” Ines Osman, director of the Geneva-based MENA Rights Group, told AFP.
“This verdict is the final nail in the coffin, saying ‘the case is now closed’.”
In December, a Saudi court exonerated two of the crown prince’s main aides for the murder – deputy intelligence chief Ahmed al-Assiri and royal court media czar Saud al-Qahtani.
The two assistants were part of Prince Mohammed’s inner circle and were officially dismissed for the murder.
Five anonymous people were sentenced to death in the December decision while three others were sentenced to prison terms totaling 24 years for the murder.
But the family’s grace paved the way for Monday’s sentence reduction, including sparing the lives of the five unnamed people on death row.
The Washington Post reported last year that Khashoggi’s children, including his son Salah, received multi-million dollar homes and were being paid thousands of dollars a month by authorities.
Salah dismissed the report, denying that he had discussed a financial settlement with Saudi Arabia’s authoritarian rulers.
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
