Saudi prosecutor calls for death penalty for Khashoggi suspects
● Charges appear aimed at protecting the crown prince from fallout
Saudi Arabia’s top prosecutor said yesterday that he is seeking the death penalty for five suspects charged with ordering and carrying out the killing of dissident Saudi writer and journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul.
The disclosures by the prosecution appear aimed at distancing the killers and their operation from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, whose decision-making powers have thrust him into the centre of a global outcry over the killing.
Chief Saudi prosecutor Saud al-mojeb’s decision to seek the death penalty before trial is not unusual in Saudi Arabia.
Facing mounting international pressure, prosecutors also pointed the finger at two men who were part of the crown prince’s inner circle, but stopped short of accusing them of ordering a hit on Khashoggi.
The two are instead being accused of ordering Khashoggi’s forced return in an operation the Saudis allege went awry.
In a press conference, Sheikh Shalan al-shalan, spokesman and deputy attorney-general, said the killing on 2 October was ordered by one man: the individual responsible for the negotiating team sent to forcibly bring Khashoggi back to Saudi Arabia.
He did not disclose that individual’s name, but said he was part of a 15-man team sent to Turkey comprised of three groups: negotiators, intelligence and logistics.
He said that on the morning of the killing, the leader of the negotiating team saw that he would not be able to force Khashoggi to return “so he decided to kill him in the moment”.
This appears to contradict a previous Saudi statement quoting Turkish intelligence saying the killing had been premeditated.
Al-shalan said that khashog-gi’s killers had set in motion plans for the operation on 29 September – three days before his slaying in Istanbul. He says the killers drugged and killed the writer inside the consulate, before dismembering the body and handing it over for disposal by an unidentified local collaborator. The body has never been found.
The brutal death of Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist who had been critical of the crown prince, has sent shock waves around the world and led analysts and officials to believe a sensitive operation of this magnitude could not have been carried out without the prince’s knowledge.
The latest Saudi account of what took place failed to appease officials in Turkey, who insist the killing and its cover-up were carried out by the highest levels of government.
“We did not find some of his explanations to be satisfactory,” Turkey’s foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said after the Saudi announcement.
“Those who gave the order, the real perpetrators need to be revealed. This process cannot be closed down in this way,” he added.
Through a series of orchestrated leaks, including audio of the killing shared with Western intelligence, Turkey has attempted to keep pressure on the crown prince, who sees Turkey as a regional rival.
Turkey alleges that among those sent to Istanbul was a forensics expert.
In an apparent reference this specialist, al-shalan said the organiser of the operation – who was not named – called on a specialist to be part of the team to erase evidence if Khashoggi needed to be forcibly returned to Saudi Arabia. Prosecutors said this specialist was working without the direct knowledge of his boss.
Saudi Arabia said 21 people are now in custody, with 11 indicted and referred to trial. The Turkish government is demanding the suspects be investigated and put on trial in Turkey.
Among the high-level officials incriminated in connection with the killing is former deputy intelligence chief Ahmed al-assiri, who was fired in the immediate aftermath of the killing.