Five people were sentenced to death Monday as punishment for the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. A public prosecutor said another 10 defendants were released due to insufficient evidence.
Khashoggi was killed and dismembered on October 2, 2018 near the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. His criticism of Saudi Arabia and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s policies were said to be the reason for the punishment. The men behind the act were thought to have been working for or in support of the highest levels of the Saudi government and bin Salman.
On November 2, 2018 the CIA revealed a recording of bin Salman ordering Khashoggi to be “silenced.”
“The Central Intelligence Agency is in possession of a phone call recording of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in which he is heard giving an instruction to ‘silence Jamal Khashoggi as soon as possible,’ Hürriyet columnist Abdulkadir Selvi wrote on November 22,” according to a report in Mediaite.
U.S. President Donald J. Trump said at the time, “King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman vigorously deny any knowledge of the planning or execution of the murder of Mr. Khashoggi. Our intelligence agencies continue to assess all information, but it could very well be that the Crown Prince had knowledge of this tragic event – maybe he did and maybe he didn’t!”
Responses ran the gamut on Twitter following the ruling Monday.