RIYADH/BEIRUT,Sept08,2020: A Saudi Arabian court on Monday jailed eight people for between seven and 20 years for the 2018 murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, state media reported, four months after his family forgave his killers and enabled death sentences to be set aside.
The trial was criticised by a U.N. official and human rights campaigners who said the masterminds of the murder remained free.
Khashoggi, a critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was last seen at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2, 2018, where he had gone to obtain documents for his impending wedding. His body was reportedly dismembered and removed from the building and his remains have not been found.
The murder caused a global uproar and tarnished the reformist image of Prince Mohammed, the kingdom’s de facto ruler and son of King Salman.
State media reported that five people were handed 20-year prison sentences, one person was sentenced to 10 years and two people received seven-year sentences for the killing.
None of the defendants was named.
The Khashoggi family’s lawyer Motasem Khashoggi told Al Sharq Al Awsat newspaper that the family welcomes the “fair and deterrent” ruling and is satisfied by it.
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