Rights groups demand justice

International human rights groups demanded justice yesterday for slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, saying that a year after his brutal murder, Saudi authorities had yet to provide any “meaningful accountability”.

The rights watchdogs also called on Riyadh to release the numerous government critics who remain in custody.

Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist, was killed and dismembered at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018, in an operation that reportedly involved 15 agents sent from Riyadh. His body was never found.

Eleven suspects have been on trial in Riyadh, with five of them facing the death penalty, but hearings are held behind closed doors and the names of the defendants have not been released.

Human Rights Watch criticised recent comments by the kingdom’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, in which he accepted collective responsiblity for Khashoggi’s murder, but denied he was personally to blame.

“If he’s serious, the crown prince and his government should provide transparency into the ongoing trial and reveal everything they know about the planning, execution, and aftermath of Khashoggi’s murder,” HRW’s Middle East director, Sarah Leah Whitson, said.

In a letter to King Salman, echoing Amnesty International, the Vienna-based International Press Institute demanded a transparent trial for those implicated in Khashoggi’s murder.

The grisly details of Khashoggi’s murder, which emerged largely from Turkish sources, sparked a global outcry and turned Prince Mohammad into a virtual pariah.