This archive report was first published on 23 December 2019.
On December 23, 2019, a Saudi court handed down verdicts in the high-profile murder case of Jamal Khashoggi, a U.S. resident and critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Five individuals were sentenced to death, while three others received jail terms totaling 24 years. The eight were among 11 unnamed individuals indicted in the case, with the remaining three acquitted.
Khashoggi, a writer and columnist at the Washington Post, was killed on October 2, 2018, when he visited the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to obtain documentation certifying his divorce, allowing him to remarry.
The trials were conducted in near-total secrecy, with only a handful of diplomats and members of Khashoggi's family reportedly present.
According to Al Jazeera, Mohammed al-Otaibi, the Saudi consul-general in Istanbul at the time, was released from prison as he was found not guilty following the verdicts.
