Saudi Arabia Convicted Eight People For The Murder Of Khashoggi

Illustration (Pixabay)

JAKARTA - A Saudi Arabian court sentenced 8 people to 7 to 20 years in prison for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Monday, September 7. This verdict came after 4 months after the family forgave the perpetrators and overruled the death penalty.

Reported by Antara, Tuesday, September 8, the trial was criticized by UN officials and human rights activists, who said the mastermind behind the killing of the Saudi Arabian journalist was still at large.

Khashoggi, a critic of Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was last seen at the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018, when he was about to retrieve his marriage documents. Khashoggi was reportedly mutilated and dumped from the building. Until now, the whereabouts of his body are still mysterious.

Khashoggi's murder drew global criticism as well as tarnished the reformist image of Crown Prince Mohammed, the kingdom's de facto ruler who is also the son of King Salman.

State media reported that 5 people were sentenced to 20 years in prison, 1 person to 10 years in prison and 2 others to 7 years in prison for Khashoggi's murder.

After the verdict, Khashoggi's fiancé, Hatice Cengiz, stated that the 8 people who were sent to prison were not the only ones responsible for Khashoggi's murder.

"The Saudi Arabian authorities closed the case without the world knowing the truth about who was responsible for Jamal's death," Hatice Cengiz wrote in a statement. "Who planned it, who ordered it, and where is the body?"

In December the court sentenced 5 people to death and sentenced 3 others to prison, saying the killings were unplanned, but carried out "suddenly"