Saudi Arabia imposes prison sentences of up to 20 years for murder of journalist Khashoggi | NOW

Saudi Arabia’s prosecution has sentenced eight men to murder journalist Jamal Khashoggi in final verdict, state television channel reports Al-Ekhbariya Monday. Five men were sentenced to 20 years in prison, three others were sentenced to between 7 and 10 years.

The five men were initially given the capital punishment imposed. Khashoggi’s next of kin, however, granted grace to the convicts, commuting the death penalty into 20 years in prison.

The Saudi process was previously described by the United Nations as a “schertsvertoning“because the lawsuit would not focus on the high-ranking individuals who ordered the murder.

The killers presumably acted on behalf of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, who has always denied this to date. The Saudi royal family claims the killers acted on their own.

According to Turkey, which was also investigating Khashoggi’s death, a senior adviser to Bin Salman, Saud Al Qahtani, and former deputy director of the Saudi intelligence apparatus Ahmed Al Asiri are instigators of the journalist’s murder. The country complained in March a total of twenty men for involvement in Khashoggi’s death.

Khashoggi did not feel safe after criticizing the Crown Prince

Khashoggi was murdered in October 2018 at the Saudi consulate in the Turkish city of Istanbul. He was there because he wanted to arrange paperwork to get married to his Turkish fiancé.

The journalist lived in exile in the United States because he no longer felt safe in Saudi Arabia after criticizing the crown prince. Khashoggi prescribed, among other things The Washington Post.

Khashoggi’s body was cut to pieces and smuggled out of the property. His remains have never been found.

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