Saudi Arabia has announced it will seek the death penalty for five suspects in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Rabat – In October, officials in Riyadh arrested 18 men in connection with the death of Jamal Khashoggi, a contributor for the Washington Post, who was killed shortly after walking into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2.
On Thursday, the country’s prosecutor indicted 11 of the 18 men arrested last month, charging them with murder. The Saudi report on the case stated that Khashoggi died after being administered a lethal drug cocktail and that his body was dismembered shortly thereafter. The location of his remains is still unknown.
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The prosecutor’s report blamed Khashoggi’s death on the head of the Saudi repatriation team who flew into Istanbul on the same day Khashoggi visited the consulate to obtain the documentation necessary to marry his fiancee.
The prosecutor further noted that the team was not sent to kill Khashoggi, but rather to bring him back to Saudi Arabia. The report contradicts headlines earlier this month in which Saudi officials admitted the death of the journalist was pre-planned.
Turkish officials have insisted that the death of Khashoggi was premeditated and ordered by the highest levels of the Saudi government. Turkey’s President Erdogan also demanded that the 18 originally arrested in Saudi Arabia be extradited to Turkey to stand trial.
