Saudi Arabia seeks death sentence for 5 suspects in Khashoggi case

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Saudi Arabia's attorney general sought the death sentence for five of 11 defendants charged with the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi as their high-profile trial opened in Riyadh on Thursday, the official Saudi Press Agency reported.

The demand was made during the case's first hearing at the criminal court in Riyadh.

The Saudi attorney general also revealed that the Public Prosecution has waited until now to get information about the case from its Turkish counterpart.

The attorney general said Saudi Arabia had twice submitted formal requests for evidence from Turkey where Khashoggi was murdered inside the kingdom's Istanbul consulate but had received no response.

Turkish police officers with a sniffer dog comb an area of the Termal district in the northwestern province of Yalova for evidence connected to the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. /VCG Photo

The names of the defendants have not been officially released. Five top officials in Saudi Arabia including royal court insider Saud al-Qahtani were sacked over the Khashoggi murder, but there is no proof that they are among those charged.

Khashoggi, a contributor to the Washington Post, was murdered on October 2 in what Riyadh called a "rogue" operation.

The 59-year-old Saudi insider-turned-critic was strangled and his body cut into pieces by a team of 15 Saudis sent to Istanbul for the killing, according to Turkish officials.

Footage captured from security camera shows members of a 15-man execution team leaving the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul after carrying out the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, October 2, 2018. /VCG Photo

There have been reports that his remains, which have never been found, were dissolved in acid.

The Khashoggi murder shocked the world at a time when Saudi Arabia was pushing an aggressive public relations campaign to rebrand it as a modern state.

The U.S. has sanctioned 17 Saudi citizens in connection with the Khashoggi murder. France and Canada have also sanctioned Saudi Arabian nationals.

Ankara has sought the extradition of the suspects in Saudi custody to stand trial in Turkey but its requests have been repeatedly rebuffed by Riyadh.

Rights groups and the United Nations have called for an independent investigation into Khashoggi's death, with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres last month calling for a "credible" probe.

(Top image: People holding pictures of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi attend a symbolic funeral prayer for Khashoggi at the courtyard of Fatih mosque in Istanbul, Turkey, November 16, 2018. /VCG Photo)

Source(s): AFP ,Xinhua News Agency