5 sentenced to death for murdering journalist
Saudi court rulings hold royal family blameless
A Saudi Arabian court on Monday sentenced five people to death but placed no blame on the royal family for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist working for The Washington Post when he was killed in Istanbul last year.
The prosecutor’s office in Riyadh announced the sentences, saying the five were guilty of “committing and directly participating in the murder.” Three other defendants were sentenced to a total of 24 years, the prosecutor’s office said.
Khashoggi, a frequent critic of the Saudi ruling family, was living in self-exile in Turkey when he entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2, 2018, in search of paperwork related to his planned marriage.
He was never seen again, and his body was never found.
The Saudis initially denied knowledge of Khashoggi’s fate but later revised the story, saying he died after a fight broke out during his interrogation. Some of the agents who were charged in the case worked for Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, who drew international condemnation after the killing. Saudi leaders, however, rejected Turkey’s accusations that the prince ordered or had advance knowledge of the killing.
The court rulings drew outrage from investigators and Amnesty International. One official called the verdict a “whitewash.”
President Donald Trump defended the crown prince in the weeks after Khashoggi’s death, saying that the evidence was not clear and that the U.S.-Saudi relationship was too valuable to disrupt.
The White House issued a statement Monday calling the court developments “an important step in holding those responsible for this terrible crime accountable, and we encourage Saudi Arabia to continue with a fair and transparent judicial process.”
Rights groups on Monday condemned rulings by a Saudi Arabian court in the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi that could rekindle U.S. government debates about the nation’s commitment to human rights.
Five people were sentenced to death in the case, and three were sentenced to a total of 24 years, the prosecutor’s office said Monday. No blame was placed on the royal family.
The rulings drew scorn from Agnes Callamard, a U.N. special rapporteur whose inquiry into the murder resulted in a damning report targeting Saudi Arabia’s royal family.
“Bottom line: the hit-men are guilty, sentenced to death. The masterminds not only walk free, they have barely been touched by the investigation and the trial,” Callamard tweeted after the sentences were announced. “That is the antithesis of Justice. It is a mockery.”
Callamard and Amnesty International criticized the trial, which was closed to the public and to independent monitors.
Lynn Maalouf, Amnesty International’s Middle East research director, called the verdict a “whitewash” that provides Khashoggi’s family with neither justice nor truth.
“The verdict fails to address the Saudi authorities’ involvement in this devastating crime or clarify the location of Jamal Khashoggi’s remains,” Maalouf said.
The 11 who were convicted can appeal the decisions.
Three other defendants were acquitted, and the office said no charges were brought against 10 other people investigated in the case.
The Saudis initially claimed Khashoggi, 59, exited the consulate the same day he disappeared, Oct. 2, 2018, and security footage shows someone wearing his clothes walking away. For weeks Saudi Arabia denied any knowledge of Khashoggi’s fate.
The Saudis ultimately revised the story, saying Khashoggi died after a fight broke out during his interrogation. An investigation was conducted, and several of the agents charged in the case worked for Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, who drew international condemnation after the killing.
Saudi leaders, however, repeatedly rejected Turkish claims that the prince ordered or had advanced knowledge of the killing.
James Piazza, a Penn State political science professor specializing in the Islamic world, said the verdicts could revitalize battles between President Donald Trump and Congress over support for Saudi Arabia’s operations in Yemen, the war-torn nation on the kingdom’s southern border.
“This might put pressure on the Trump administration, or on Republicans in Congress, to halt aid to the Saudis or to pressure them to clean up their human rights act,” Piazza told USA TODAY.
Callamard issued a 100-page report in June calling for a halt to the Saudi trial, describing the murder as an international crime requiring a criminal investigation led by the United Nations. Callamard found no “smoking gun” but cautioned in her report that the investigation must focus on those who “have abused, or failed to fulfill, the responsibilities of their positions of authority.”
Saudi prosecutors had accused deputy intelligence chief Ahmed al-Assiri of overseeing the killing and said he had been advised by the royal court’s media expert Saud al-Qahtani.
Al-Assiri was acquitted while alQahtani was investigated but not indicted “due to insufficient evidence.”
Callamard noted that the defendants had repeatedly claimed they were obeying orders.
“The prosecutor had publicly stated that Saud al-Qahtani ... had demanded the abduction of Jamal Khashoggi (on the grounds he was a threat to national security.) And yet, he remains free,” Callamard tweeted.
Mohammed al-Otaibi, Saudi consulgeneral in Istanbul at the time, won acquittal. That also drew a rebuke from Callamard, who said al-Otaibi “took all necessary precautions to ensure there will be no eye witness present in the consulate.”
“Impunity for the killing of a journalist commonly reveals political repression, corruption, abuse of power, propaganda, and even international complicity,” Callamard tweeted. “All are present in #SaudiArabia killing of #JamalKhashoggi.”