Turkey prepares indictment against six Saudis in Khashoggi murder case

Turkish prosecutors are preparing a second indictment against six Saudi officials alleged to be involved in the brutal murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi Arabian Consulate in Istanbul almost two years ago, local media have reported.

The reports did not clarify whether the six suspects are among those already being tried in absentia by an Istanbul court. The prosecutors’ office in Istanbul declined to comment.

Turkey’s Anadolu news agency said that two of the defendants face charges that carry a sentence of life imprisonment while the charges against the other four carry sentences of up to five years in jail.

Earlier this month, a Saudi court sentenced eight people to varying prison terms ranging from seven to 20 years in the Khashoggi murder case, four months after the late journalist’s family pardoned his killers. That pardon nullified the death sentences which had been handed down initially.

READ: Amnesty calls for independent probe into Khashoggi murder