Twenty Saudi nationals have gone on trial in absentia in Turkey for the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. Khashoggi, a prominent critic of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was killed by a team of Saudi agents inside the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul. Saudi Arabia, which rejected Turkey's extradition request, convicted eight people over the murder last year. The Saudi trial was dismissed as "the antithesis of justice" by a UN Special Rapporteur Agnes Callamard, who concluded that Khashoggi was "the victim of a deliberate, premeditated execution" for which the Saudi state was responsible. Ms Cengiz expressed confidence in the Turkish judicial system and declared: "Our search for justice will continue in Turkey as well as in everywhere we can."

Source: The Star July 03, 2020 16:07 UTC