Five Saudis have been sentenced to death for the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi Arabian public prosecutor announced on Monday (December 23rd). Of the eleven people who have been charged in this case, three have also been sentenced to prison terms totaling 24 years. The rest were acquitted. "We have concluded that Khashoggi's murder was not premeditated", adds the statement from the Riyadh court.
"Lack of evidence", No charges have been brought against Saoud Al-Qahtani, a close adviser to Crown Prince Mohammed Ben Salman, added the prosecutor, adding that former intelligence number two, General Ahmed Al-Assiri, was acquitted. The latter was suspected of having supervised the assassination of the chronicler Washington Post at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018 and for being advised by Saoud Al-Qahtani, confidant of Crown Prince Mohammed Ben Salman and royal advisor.
In mid-November, in hopes of turning the page on a disastrous affair for its image, Saudi Arabia had indicted eleven of its nationals. The attorney general reported on the opening of the trial on January 3 in a concise statement, which did not provide the identities of the accused at the time.
Ankara and the CIA accuse the Saudi state
Famous signature of the Saudi press, in exile in the United States, Jamal Khashoggi chronicled the authoritarian drift of crown prince Mohammed Ben Salman, the strong man of the crown, in the pages of Washington Post. He was killed on October 2, 2018 in his country's consulate, in Istanbul, by a commando of fifteen Saudi agents, who administered a lethal injection before dismembering his body.
According to Riyadh, the operation was conceived by elements beyond the control of the Saudi intelligence services, unbeknownst to Mohammed Ben Salman, nicknamed "MBS". This version hardly convinced foreign observers, starting with the CIA. The American spy center believes that the operation could not have been carried out without the approval of the crown prince, who has the upper hand on security affairs.
Ankara accused the "Highest levels" of the Saudi state. Turkish and American media, as well as the CIA, suspect Crown Prince Mohammed Ben Salman of having himself sponsored the operation against Jamal Khashoggi. Turkey has requested the extradition of 18 Saudis arrested in their country and suspected of involvement in the murder. But Saudi Arabia responded that there was no question of extraditing Saudi citizens to Turkey, saying the suspects would be tried in their country.
