Ankara – Turkey will follow the case of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s killing “regardless how it goes”, the country’s Communications Director, Fahrettin Altun, said on Tuesday.
Turkey slammed Riyadh’s verdict in the “sham trial” as an insult to the intelligence of observers.
Saudi Arabia on Monday sentenced five people to death and three to jail over Khashoggi’s murder, but a UN investigator accused it of making a “mockery” of justice by allowing the masterminds of last year’s killing to go free.
“The verdict of the sham trial is an insult to the intelligence of any fair observer.
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“Those responsible must face justice sooner or later,” Altun said. “We will follow this case to the
A Saudi court sentenced five people to death yesterday for the murder of Khashoggi but ruled that last year’s assassination wasn’t premeditated and said it didn’t have enough evidence to incriminate two top officials close to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The verdict, read out by the public prosecutor on Monday in Riyadh, is unlikely to mute criticism in the U.S. against the kingdom and Prince Mohammed for the murder of the Washington Post columnist by government agents in Istanbul.
While Prince Mohammed has repeatedly denied sanctioning the killing, U.S. lawmakers and CIA analysts concluded it couldn’t have taken place without his knowledge. The accusations focused on two of his key aides, royal court adviser Saud al-Qahtani and top intelligence official Ahmed Alassiri.
But Deputy Attorney General Shalaan Shalaan said authorities questioned Qahtani, who was removed from his position by King Salman and sanctioned by the U.S. after the killing, and didn’t find enough evidence against him. Alassiri, a top intelligence official also removed from his position, was found not guilty by the court.
The sentencing probably won’t “turn off the fires that started after the Khashoggi issue in the U.S. Congress,” said Ayham Kamel, head of Middle East and North Africa research at Eurasia Group, a consultancy.
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