Turkish Court Trying 26 Saudi Suspects for the Murder of Jamal Khashoggi

Istanbul, March 4 (AFP/APP): A Turkish court trying 26 Saudi suspects in absentia for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi on Thursday refused to admit a US report blaming the kingdom’s crown prince for the killing.

An Istanbul court is trying two close former aides to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in a case that has gained added attention after the delayed release last week of the declassified US report.

Khashoggi was an insider-turned-critic who wrote for The Washington Post when he was killed and dismembered inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul after going in to get documents for his wedding to Turkish fiancee Hatice Cengiz in October 2018.

Cengiz and a German diplomat attended the third hearing in the trial. Turkish prosecutors claim Saudi deputy intelligence chief Ahmed al-Assiri and the royal court’s media czar Saud al-Qahtani led the operation and gave orders to a Saudi hit team.

The declassified US report said Washington had grounds to conclude that Prince Mohammed “approved” the operations since it fit a pattern of him “using violent measures to silence dissidents abroad”. Cengiz asked the Istanbul court to add the US report to the evidence case file.

But the presiding judge rejected the request on the grounds that it “will bring nothing” to the trial.

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