Saudi court issues final verdicts in Khashoggi killing
A Saudi court on Monday issued final verdicts in the killing of the dissident writer Jamal Khashoggi, months after one of his sons said he and his siblings had forgiven the men who killed him, effectively eliminating the possibility that the defendants would be executed.
Saudi state television announced that five of the eight defendants had been sentenced to 20 years in prison each and that two had been sentenced to 17 years each. One was issued a 10- year sentence. The Saudis have never released the defendants’ names, but they are all believed to be members of a 15- man hit squad that traveled from Saudi Arabia to Turkey in October 2018 before killing and dismembering Mr. Khashoggi.
In December, a Saudi court convicted the men in connection with the killing and dismemberment of Mr. Khashoggi inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in October 2018, sentencing three to prison terms and five to death, a punishment that is usually carried out in the kingdom by beheading.
Mr. Khashoggi, 60, fled
Saudi Arabia during the rise of its powerful crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, and wrote critically about him as a columnist for The Washington Post.
The sentences that were issued in December reflected the Saudi narrative that the killing had not been ordered by the royal court but rather was a last- minute decision by agents on the ground. However, that narrative contradicts evidence gathered by the Turkish authorities and a United Nations expert, who found that the agents traveled to Istanbul intending to kill Mr. Khashoggi and were carrying the tools to do so.