Assassination of a Saudi journalist murdered five times

Five Saudi officials face the death penalty for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was dismembered in the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul.

However, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman – the de facto leader of the country – was not involved, the kingdom's prosecutor said yesterday.

The announcement follows the international outcry over the badbadination of Washington Post columnist Mr. Khashoggi and criticizes Saudi leaders who were last seen in the consulate on October 2 for documents in sight. of his marriage.

Khashoggi died after being drugged and dismembered, a spokesman for the prosecutor's office said in the country's first confirmation of how he was killed.

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The journalist's body parts were then handed over to an officer located outside the consulate.

And the spokesman denied that Crown Prince Mohammed knew of the murder.

General Ahmed al-Assiri, deputy head of the Saudi intelligence service, ordered the repatriation of Mr. Khashoggi – and "the head of the negotiating team" who had gone to the consulate. Istanbul had ordered his badbadination, said the spokesman.

After repeated denials, Saudi Arabia finally admitted in mid-October that Mr. Khashoggi had been murdered in the compound of the building, but blamed him for a "rogue" operation.

The prosecutor has asked for the death penalty for the five people "who are accused of ordering and committing the crime and for the appropriate punishment for the other people charged," said an official statement issued by the agency SPA official press.

A total of 21 people were in custody as part of the murder, 11 of whom were charged with investigating and prosecuting others.

Turkey had previously called for an international investigation into the killing.

Ankara has already shared murder-related voice recordings with a number of countries, including Saudi Arabia, the United States, and its Western allies.

The killing of Khashoggi has plunged the world's largest oil exporter into the worst diplomatic crisis since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States, during which most of the pirates were identified. like Saudi nationals.

After initially insisting that Mr. Khashoggi had left the consulate unscathed, the Saudi authorities said that he had been killed in a clash that had escalated into a fight before finally agreeing to that Turkey had declared from the outset, namely that he had been killed premeditatedly.

Murder

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the order to badbadinate Mr. Khashoggi came from the "highest levels" of the Saudi government.

The global fallout on the badbadination has tarnished the image of Crown Prince Mohammed, 33, despite Saudi Arabia's persistent refusal to deny its participation.

The badbadination of Mr. Khashoggi also led to increased surveillance of Saudi Arabia's role in the Yemeni war, a conflict that pushed the impoverished country on the south coast of the Arabian Peninsula to the brink of starvation.

The journalist has been exiled to the United States in 2017, after being scrambled with Crown Prince Mohammed.

Irish independent