'Mockery of justice’: Saudi Arabia blasts verdict in Khashoggi murder 

Saudi Arabia has been accused of engaging in a mockery of justice by shielding the alleged masterminds of the killing of the dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, after a court effectively exonerated Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s inner circle of involvement in the murder, The Guardian reports.

The gruesome killing in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018 stunned Saudi Arabia’s western allies, plunging the kingdom into its worst diplomatic crisis since the 9/11 attacks.

Five of the 11 officially unidentified men on trial were sentenced to death and three more were handed a combined 24 years in prison, the deputy public prosecutor, Shalaan bin Rajih Shalaan, told reporters in Riyadh on Monday.

The investigation also concluded that Saud al-Qahtani, one of the crown prince’s most trusted advisers, was investigated and found to have no proven involvement in Khashoggi’s death, Shalaan added.

The findings contradict the conclusion of the CIA and other western intelligence agencies that Prince Mohammed directly ordered Khashoggi’s assassination, an allegation the kingdom has strenuously denied. Qahtani, along with 16 other Saudis, was sanctioned by the US last year for his alleged role in the killing.

Shalaan also said “there was no premeditation to kill at the beginning of the mission” – a finding at odds with extensive evidence showing that a 15-man hit squad had arrived in Istanbul with an intention to kill.

The crown prince’s father, King Salman, ordered a shake-up of top security posts after Khashoggi’s death, but the ensuing Saudi investigation has been widely criticised as a cover-up operation designed to shield the heir to the throne and those around him from allegations of wrongdoing.

Agnès Callamard, a UN special rapporteur who authored an inquiry into Khashoggi’s death but was barred from access to the secretive trial, said the ruling that the murder was a spontaneous rather than premeditated crime was “anything but justice”.

“Under international human rights law, the killing of Khashoggi was an extrajudicial execution for which the state of Saudi Arabia is responsible,” she tweeted. “Bottom line: the hitmen are guilty, sentenced to death. The masterminds not only walk free. They have barely been touched by the investigation and the trial. That is the antithesis of justice. It is a mockery,” said Callamard, who does not speak for the UN but reports her findings to it

The crown prince’s father, King Salman, ordered a shake-up of top security posts after Khashoggi’s death, but the ensuing Saudi investigation has been widely criticised as a cover-up operation designed to shield the heir to the throne and those around him from allegations of wrongdoing.

Agnès Callamard, a UN special rapporteur who authored an inquiry into Khashoggi’s death but was barred from access to the secretive trial, said the ruling that the murder was a spontaneous rather than premeditated crime was “anything but justice”.

“Under international human rights law, the killing of Khashoggi was an extrajudicial execution for which the state of Saudi Arabia is responsible,” she tweeted. “Bottom line: the hitmen are guilty, sentenced to death. The masterminds not only walk free. They have barely been touched by the investigation and the trial. That is the antithesis of justice. It is a mockery,” said Callamard, who does not speak for the UN but reports her findings to it.