• Press Release

Khashoggi verdict in Saudi Arabia a whitewash

December 23, 2019

A general manager of Alarab TV, Jamal Khashoggi, looks on during a press conference in the Bahraini capital Manama, on December 15, 2014. The pan-Arab satellite news broadcaster owned by billionaire Saudi businessman Alwaleed bin Talal will go on air February 1, promising to "break the mould" in a crowded field.AFP PHOTO/ MOHAMMED AL-SHAIKH (Photo by MOHAMMED AL-SHAIKH / AFP) (Photo credit should read MOHAMMED AL-SHAIKH/AFP/Getty Images)
Responding to a Saudi Arabian court’s sentencing of five people to death and three others to prison for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Lynn Maalouf, Amnesty International’s Middle East Research Director, said:
 
“This verdict is a whitewash which brings neither justice nor the truth for Jamal Khashoggi and his loved ones. The trial has been closed to the public and to independent monitors, with no information available as to how the investigation was carried out.
 
“The verdict fails to address the Saudi authorities’ involvement in this devastating crime or clarify the location of Jamal Khashoggi’s remains.
 
“Saudi Arabia’s courts routinely deny defendants access to lawyers and condemn people to death following grossly unfair trials. Given the lack of transparency from the Saudi authorities, and in the absence of an independent judiciary, only an international, independent and impartial investigation can serve justice for Jamal Khashoggi.”
 
Background

The Public Prosecution’s findings into the murder of Jamal Khashoggi on October 2, 2018  were published by the Saudi Press Agency today. The trial involved 31 individuals, 11 of whom were charged and eight were convicted today. Five were sentenced to death and three were sentenced to prison terms. They were tried and sentenced before the Criminal Court in Riyadh. The verdict is subject to an appeal.

A UN report released by the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Agnes Callamard, in June 2019 concluded that Jamal Khashoggi was the victim of “an extrajudicial killing for which the state of Saudi Arabia is responsible under human rights law”. Saudi Arabia failed to cooperate with Special Rapporteur Callamard during her investigation.

Media contact: Mariya Parodi, [email protected]