The UN Human Rights Office said on Friday, January 4, 2019 it could not assess the fairness of a trial taking place in Saudi Arabia related to the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, but that, in any case, it was “not sufficient”.
Spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani, asked about reports that a Saudi prosecutor had sought the death sentence for five suspects linked to the October 2 killing, reiterated the office’s call for an independent investigation “with international involvement”.
The UN rights office always opposed the death penalty, she added.
On Thursday, Saudi Arabia’s Public Prosecutors demanded capital punishment against five out of 11 suspects over the killing of Khashoggi, Saudi Press Agency reported.
The Saudi attorney general highlighted in a statement that the demand was made during the first hearing of the case at the criminal court in Riyadh.
He said that the Public Prosecutors requested death sentence of the five over the involvement in the murder, adding that all the 11 suspects attended the hearing with their lawyers.
The attorney general also revealed that the Public Prosecutors had waited until now to get information about the case from its Turkish counterpart.
Khashoggi was murdered inside the Saudi consulate in Turkey on Oct. 2, 2018, and a number of top Saudi officials were arrested in connection with the case.
The Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz had given orders to restructure the intelligence authority.
