Faithful to its promised prosecution of the murderers of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi Arabia’s public prosection has sentenced eight individuals, five to death and three to prison, as per Reuters. The verdicts, which were given on Monday by the Riyadh Criminal Court and which can be appealed, also saw the absolution of three others found innocent during the attentively-followed trial. A staunch critic of the Saudi government, Khashoggi was a journalist, writer and U.S resident who was last seen entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018 to get documents for his upcoming marriage to fiancée Hatice Cengiz. Turkish sources attributed his disappearance to murder – a claim that was initially contested by Saudi officials who asserted that he left the consulate afterwards. However, Saudi Arabia later confirmed that the 59-year-old Saudi journalist died during a fight in the consulate in Turkey. According to Reuters, Saudi Deputy Public Prosecutor and spokesman Shalaan al-Shalaan said that “The investigation showed that the killing was not premeditated. The decision was taken at the spur of the moment.” This statement contrasts strongly with Special Rapporteur Agnes Callamard’s UN report in which she highlights…
