(CNN) Saudi Arabia has issued "final verdicts" against eight suspects in the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in October 2018 -- sentencing five of the defendants to 20 years in prison -- the state-run Saudi Press Agency (SPA) has reported, citing a public prosecutor spokesman. One defendant was handed a sentence of 10 years and the two others face seven years in prison, SPA reported on Monday. The verdicts come after Khashoggi's family "pardoned" five of the suspects in May, thereby sparing them the death penalty, CNN previously reported. Agnes Callamard, the UN Special Rapporteur for Extrajudicial Killings who lead an independent investigation into the murder, called the verdicts a "parody of justice" on Monday. "The Saudi Prosecutor performed one more act today in this parody of justice.

Source: CNN September 07, 2020 18:31 UTC