Turkey trial of Saudi suspects in Jamal Khashoggi murder begins
A Turkish court has opened the trial of 20 Saudi nationals
indicted over the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
The trial began at Istanbul province's main court in
Caglayan district at 10am local time (07:00 GMT) on Friday.
Khashoggi, a 59-year-old Washington Post columnist, was
killed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018, after he entered
the premises to obtain paperwork for his planned marriage.
Turkish officials say Khashoggi's body was dismembered at
the consulate by the killers and his remains are yet to be found.
In March, Turkish prosecutors indicted 20 Saudi nationals
over Khashoggi's killing, including two former senior aides to Saudi Crown
Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), the kingdom's de facto ruler.
Indictment
According to the indictment, Saudi Arabia's former deputy
intelligence chief Ahmed al-Assiri is accused of establishing a hit team and
planning the murder of the journalist, who wrote critically of the Saudi
government.
The former royal court and media adviser, Saud al-Qahtani,
is accused of instigating and leading the operation by giving orders to the hit
team.
Other suspects are mainly the Saudi officers who allegedly
took part in the assassination operation. The Turkish prosecutors have already
issued arrest warrants for the suspects.
Andrew Gardner, the senior Turkey researcher of UK-based
Amnesty International, said there was an expectation the trial would shed light
on new evidence and also interrogate the evidence already available.
"This trial and other efforts by the Turkish
authorities have been important in keeping the murder in the spotlight, not
allowing it to be forgotten," Gardner told Al Jazeera from Istanbul.
"This trial is not replacement for a UN-led
international investigation. Hopefully it will be just another stepping stone
on the road to ensuring such a probe takes place. And in that sense it is
incredibly valuable," he added.
The assassination of Khashoggi, who was a resident of the
United States, prompted a worldwide backlash against Saudi Arabia and caused
lasting damage to MBS's image in the international arena.
The CIA reportedly concluded that the crown prince ordered
the killing, an accusation denied by the government in Riyadh.
Agnes Callamard, the United Nations's special rapporteur on
extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, also found "credible
evidence" that MBS and other senior Saudi officials were liable for the
killing, in an investigative report published in June 2019. Callamard is also
expected to be present at Friday's trial.
The Saudi government called the assassination a "rogue
operation" after repeatedly denying any involvement in the incident for
weeks.
Ankara's ties with Riyadh came under intense strain after
the killing of the journalist, who was personally known by Turkish President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Erdogan has said the killing was ordered at the
"highest levels" of the Saudi government.
In December, a court in Saudi Arabia reportedly sentenced
five people to death and three to jail time for the murder after trials that
took place behind closed doors.
According to Amnesty's Gardner, a key problem in
investigating the murder of Khashoggi has been a lack of cooperation by the
Saudi authorities and the absence of the people accused.
"And that really underlines again how much a UN-led
international investigation is required. For that, the cooperation of all
parties is needed with the Turkish and Saudi authorities sharing all the
evidence they collected," he said.
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