This archive report was first published on 23 December 2019.
On December 23, 2019, Saudi Arabia's public prosecutor announced that five people had been sentenced to death for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. However, two top figures investigated over the killing, Ahmed al-Assiri and Saud al-Qahtani, have been exonerated due to insufficient evidence.
According to Turkish officials, Khashoggi, a 59-year-old Saudi insider-turned-critic, was strangled and his body cut into pieces by a 15-man Saudi squad inside the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul in October 2018. His remains have not been found.
"We found that Khashoggi's murder was not premeditated," Saudi deputy general prosecutor Shalaan al-Shalaan told a press conference.
Assiri, the deputy intelligence chief, and Qahtani, the royal court's media czar, were both part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's inner circle and were formally sacked over the killing. However, only Assiri appeared in the court hearings, while Qahtani has not appeared publicly since the murder and his whereabouts are a subject of speculation.
Eleven individuals were on trial for the murder, including Maher Mutreb, an intelligence operative, forensic expert Salah al-Tubaigy, and Fahad al-Balawi, a member of the Saudi royal guard. It is unclear if they were among those who were sentenced to death.
The Riyadh court hearing the case held a total of nine sessions attended by representatives of the international community as well as Khashoggi's family.
