Saudi Arabia sentenced five men to death and three others to prison for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi in a ruling that has been widely dismissed by experts.
The Washington Post columnist was killed in 2018 after walking into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to obtain documents in order to marry his fiancée, Hatice Cengiz.
The murder generated international outrage and damaged Saudi Arabia’s international reputation.
Saudi Arabia’s public prosecutor announced the sentences on Monday but specified that a former adviser of the Saudi prince Saud al-Qahtani would not be charged.
Agnes Callamard, the UN expert who investigated the killing, called the ruling the “antithesis of justice” and a “mockery”.
“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, the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions tweeted.
“That is the antithesis of Justice. It is a mockery.”
Why the sentence today is anything BUT Justice for #JamalKhashoggi: a) the hearings were held behind closed door even though none of the justification for holding a trial in camera under international law applied to this particular trial
— Agnes Callamard (@AgnesCallamard) December 23, 2019