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HRW: Justice not done in Khashoggi case

December 24, 2019 at 12:32 am

Jamal Khashoggi speaking at AlSharq Forum conference [AlSharq Forum]

Human rights Watch said on Monday that there will be no justice in the assassination case of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi as long as the person who ordered the murder is not announced.

The organisation’s executive director, Kenneth Roth, commented via his verified Twitter account on the Saudi court’s issuance of the preliminary ruling against those accused of killing Khashoggi, saying: “Hard to feel that justice is done for Jamal Khashoggi when the Saudi “trial” of his alleged killers made no public effort to identify who had issued the order to murder him.”

Read: Who are Saudis under spotlight over Khashoggi’s killing?

Roth pointed out that the verdict against five of the defendants, according to the preliminary ruling, may have targeted further obfuscation on the details of the crime by the execution of those who know a lot about it.

The Saudi Public Prosecution announced in a press conference held in Riyadh on Monday the issuance of a preliminary death sentence against five of those accused of the crime, the imprisonment for a total period of 24 years for 3 other defendants, and the acquittal of 3 of the defendants for “failure to prove their conviction in the case.”

The prosecution mentioned that everyone who was proven involved in the case was tried over 9 sessions, before the verdicts were issued in the tenth session, noting that an investigation had been conducted with the former adviser to the royal court, Saud Al-Qahtani, who is close to the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, and the former deputy head of Saudi intelligence, Ahmad Asiri, without issuing charges against them, and that the Saudi consul in Istanbul, Mohammed Al-Otaibi, confirmed his presence elsewhere at the time of the killing of Khashoggi.