Five Saudi officials are facing the death penalty after being accused of murdering journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Shalaan al-Shalaan, the kingdom’s deputy public prosecutor, revealed on Thursday that 21 people are in custody over the killing and charges have been brought against 11 of them.
But he exonerated Saudi’s de-facto ruler Mohammed bin Salman by laying ultimate blame for Khashoggi’s killing at the feet of two lesser officials.
Saudi Arabia will seek the death penalty against five men it accuses of carrying out the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul on October 2
Shalaan al-Shalaan, the deputy public prosecutor of Saudi Arabia, revealed that 21 people are in custody over the killing and 11 of them have been charged
Shalaan told reporters in Riyadh that the highest-level official implicated in Khashoggi’s killing is former deputy intelligence chief Ahmad al-Assiri, who gave the order for him to be repatriated from Turkey.
He added that it was ‘the head of the negotiating team’ dispatched to seize Khashoggi who then gave the order to kill him.
Shalaan denied that Salman had any knowledge of the killing. The Crown Prince has blamed it on ‘rogue elements’ of the Saudi state.
The prosecutor added that Saudi believes Khashoggi was given a lethal injection inside the country’s consulate in Istanbul on October 2.
His body was then dismembered and taken out of the building, Shalaan said, though admitted the kingdom does not not know where the remains are now.
Investigations are ongoing to find the remains, the prosecutor insisted.
Hatice Cengiz, Khashoggi’s fiancee who was with him at the consulate the day he died to retrieve documents allowing them to marry, has demanded the kingdom hand back his remains for a proper burial.
After repeated denials, Saudi Arabia finally admitted in mid-October that Khashoggi had been murdered at the compound, but blamed it on a ‘rogue’ operation.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has not been implicated in the killing after blame was laid at the feet of two lesser officials
The prosecutor has requested the death penalty for the five who ‘are charged with ordering and committing the crime and for the appropriate sentences for the other indicted individuals,’ an official statement published by state news agency SPA said.
It said a total of 21 individuals were in custody in connection with the killing, 11 of whom have been indicted with investigations to continue into the others.
Turkey on Wednesday called for an international investigation into the murder.
Ankara has already shared voice recordings linked to the murder with a number of countries including Saudi Arabia, the United States and its Western allies.
Khashoggi’s killing has plunged the world’s top oil exporter into its worst diplomatic crisis since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, in which most of the hijackers were identified as Saudi nationals.
After first insisting Khashoggi left the consulate unharmed, Saudi authorities said he was killed in an argument that degenerated into a brawl before finally accepting what Turkey had said virtually from the start – that he was killed in a premeditated hit.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said the order to murder Khashoggi came from ‘the highest levels’ of the Saudi government.
The global fallout over the murder has tainted the image of 33-year-old Prince Mohammed – the de facto ruler and heir apparent – despite persistent Saudi denials that he was involved.
Khashoggi’s murder has also led to increased scrutiny of Saudi Arabia’s role in the Yemen war, which has pushed the impoverished country to the brink of famine.
The journalist went into self-imposed exile in the United States in 2017 after falling out with Prince Mohammed.