Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s killers death sentences changed to jail terms after his sons pardoned them

Saudi Arabia has jailed eight defendants over the killing of journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, handing them sentences between seven and 20 years and overturning earlier death sentences, the Daily Mail of UK reported on Monday.

Five people charged in the Khashoggi case have been jailed for 20 years.

One person was sentenced to 10 years and two people were handed seven-year sentences.

The final verdicts were handed down by Riyadh Criminal Court on Monday. Their names were not made public.

The trial was widely criticized by rights groups and an independent UN investigator, who noted that no senior officials nor anyone suspected of ordering the killing was found guilty. The independence of the court was also brought into question.

The decision overturns a previous ruling in December last year, when five people were sentenced to death for the killing while three others were found guilty of covering up the crime and were sentenced to a combined 24 years in prison.

Khashoggi’s sons said in May that they had ‘pardoned’ the killers, giving a legal reprieve to the five who were sentenced to death and sparing their execution.

His son, Salah Khashoggi, tweeted: “In this blessed night of the blessed month (of Ramadan) we remember God’s saying: If a person forgives and makes reconciliation, his reward is due from Allah.

“Therefore, we the sons of the Martyr Jamal Khashoggi announce that we pardon those who killed our father, seeking reward God almighty.”

The December verdict, which was lambasted by rights groups as a travesty of justice, underscored Saudi efforts to draw a line under the crisis as it sought to reboot its international image ahead of the G20 summit in Riyadh.

UN special rapporteur for extrajudicial summary or arbitrary executions, Agnes Callamard, accused Saudi Arabia of making a ‘mockery’ of justice by allowing the masterminds of the 2018 killing to go free.

However, Salah Khashoggi said of the December verdict that ‘it has been fair to us and that justice has been achieved.’

Saudi prosecutors had said deputy intelligence chief Ahmed al-Assiri oversaw Khashoggi’s killing and the US Treasury had claimed the royal court’s media czar Saud al-Qahtani was ‘part of the planning and execution’ of the operation that led to the murder.

Qahtani was investigated but not indicted ‘due to insufficient evidence’ and Assiri was charged, but eventually acquitted on the same grounds, according to the public prosecutor.

Both aides were part of Prince Mohammed’s tight-knit inner circle and were formally sacked over the killing, but only Assiri appeared in the court hearings, according to Western sources.

Washington Post columnist Khashoggi was killed at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in 2018.

Prior to his killing, Khashoggi had written critically of Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in columns for the Washington Post.

He’d been living in exile in the United States for about a year.

Khashoggi had walked into his country’s consulate on October 2, 2018 for an appointment to pick up documents that would allow him to get married to his Turkish fiancee Hatice Cengiz. He never walked out.

A team of 15 Saudi agents had flown to Turkey to meet Mr Khashoggi inside the consulate.

They included a forensic doctor, intelligence and security officers and individuals who worked for the crown prince’s office.

Turkish officials allege Mr Khashoggi was killed and then dismembered with a bone saw by the 15-man Saudi squad.

Jamal Khashoggi’s remains have not been found.

Saudi Arabia had initially offered shifting accounts about Mr Khashoggi’s disappearance.

As international pressure mounted because of the Turkish leaks, the kingdom eventually settled on the explanation that he was killed by rogue officials in a brawl.

Both the CIA and a United Nations special envoy have directly linked Prince Mohammed to the killing, a charge the kingdom vehemently denies.

Turkey, a rival of Saudi Arabia, apparently had the Saudi Consulate bugged and has shared audio of the killing with the CIA, among others.

Shortly after his death Khashoggi’s two sons made an emotional appeal to have their father’s body returned home during a sit-down with CNN.

‘I really hope that whatever happened wasn’t painful for him, or it was quick. Or he had a peaceful death,’ Abdullah Khashoggi said.

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