Following the terrifying murder of Saudi columnist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul, Turkey, in October last year, the already stained reputation of Saudi Arabia was further mired down on the international level. Now, more than a year later, the country has supposedly awarded death sentence to five and prison terms to some others for that crime.
Is this mere mock justice? Apparently, yes.
Axios reported that the government has not provided names of those convicted of Khashoggi’s murder and sentenced to death and imprisonment. But not surprisingly, the Saudi crown prince has been cleared – and he was not under investigation in the first place – while the CIA reportedly named him as the one who ordered the killing.
There was also the call for further probe by UN, which of course no one heard about. Even in this sentence, there are no trial details, no pictures, names, nothing. The verifiability of this “news” practically stands at zero. So for now, one can look at it as a statement by the Saudi government that they awarded sentences in a self-exonerating privileged opportunity to tell the world that the case is over. But it’s not credible or anywhere near it.
