WORLD UNCONVINCED: Turkey questions verdict over Khashoggi murder

Turkey on Monday criticised a Saudi court verdict over the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, saying it stopped short of meeting expectations to shed light on the killing and deliver justice.

The decision announced by the Saudi court “is far from meeting the expectations of both our country and the international community to shed light on the murder with all its dimensions and deliver justice,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Ankara also said key aspects of the murder including the whereabouts of Khashoggi’s body were “left in the dark”, which the ministry said was a “fundamental deficiency” in terms of accountability.

Five people were sentenced to death over the murder of 59-year-old journalist Jamal Khashoggi, but two top figures investigated over the killing have been exonerated, Saudi Arabia’s public prosecutor said Monday.

“The court issued death sentences on five men who directly took part in the killing,” the prosecutor said in a statement.

Saudi prosecutors had said deputy intelligence chief Ahmed al-Assiri oversaw the Washington Post columnist’s killing in the kingdom’s Istanbul consulate in October 2018 and that he was advised by the royal court’s media czar Saud al-Qahtani.

However, Qahtani was investigated but not indicted “due to insufficient evidence” and Assiri was investigated and charged but eventually acquitted on the same grounds, the statement said.

Of the 11 unnamed individuals indicted in the case, five were sentenced to death, three face jail terms totalling 24 years, and the others were acquitted.

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