Saudis charge 5 over consulate murder... but prince is cleared

FIVE suspects charged over the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi should face the death penalty, Saudi Arabia’s public prosecutor said yesterday.

And he claimed that a senior intelligence officer ordered the killing in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul – not Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, as has been widely alleged.

That officer led a team of agents told to bring Mr Khashoggi – a critic of the crown prince – back to the kingdom, he said.

‘[The crown prince] did not have any knowledge about it,’ deputy public prosecutor Shalaan bin Rajih Shalaan insisted.

Speaking at a rare news conference in Riyadh, Mr Shalaan said 21 people are now in custody, with 11 charged over the murder.

Saudi Arabia was seeking the death penalty against five of them for ordering and carrying out the killing, he said. Their cases have been referred to a court while investigations continue into ten more suspects. Mr Shalaan said the killers set in motion plans for the murder in Turkey on September 29, three days before Mr Khashoggi’s death. Mr Shalaan also said his body was dismembered inside the consulate after his death. The body parts were then handed over to an agent outside the grounds, he added.

Mr Khashoggi’s body has yet to be found, despite appeals worldwide for Saudi Arabia to disclose its whereabouts.

Last night America placed punishing economic sanctions on 17 Saudis allegedly involved in the murder of Mr Khashoggi, including aides of the crown prince.

Treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin said: ‘The officials we are sanctioning were involved in the abhorrent killing. These individuals who targeted and brutally killed a journalist who resided and worked in the US must face consequences.’