Saudi Court Sentences 5 to Death in Khashoggi Murder

Saudi Arabia has been accused of shielding Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who foreign experts suspect was behind the killing of Jamal Khashoggi.

BEIRUT, Lebanon — A court in Saudi Arabia sentenced five men to death and three to prison terms over the killing of the Saudi dissident writer Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul last year, the kingdom’s public prosecutor’s office said on Monday.

The killing of Mr. Khashoggi, a veteran Saudi media figure and columnist for The Washington Post, brought international outrage and battered the reputation of Saudi Arabia’s crown prince and de facto ruler, Mohammed bin Salman.

Mr. Khashoggi entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2, 2018, to obtain paperwork he needed to marry his Turkish fiancée. Inside, he was confronted by Saudi agents, who killed him and dismembered his body. His remains have yet to be found.

Officials in Washington and other capitals had called on Saudi Arabia to investigate the case and ensure that justice was done. But it remained unclear whether the verdict announced on Monday would appease critics who argue that the killing of Mr. Khashoggi was part of a wider campaign to silence critical voices at home and abroad.

The trial was held in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, and was shrouded in secrecy. The kingdom never announced the suspects’ names, and foreign diplomats who attended sessions of the trial were sworn to secrecy. It was not immediately clear when the final trial session was held.

Although no evidence has been made public that directly implicates Prince Mohammed in the killing, an assessment by the Central Intelligence Agency found that he had probably known in advance about the operation — which included two private jets and more than 15 government agents — and possibly ordered it, based on his oversight of issues large and small in the kingdom.

Source: New York Times, Staff, December 23, 2019. Ben Hubbard is the Beirut bureau chief. He has spent more than a decade in the Arab world, including Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Yemen.

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