Saudi Arabia’s public prosecutor stated on Monday that five – no-name disclosed – people had been sentenced to death over the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul in October last year, but two top figures investigation over the killing have been exonerated.

The Saudi Prosecutor, Shalaan al-Shalaan, said in a statement,

“The court issued death sentences on five men who directly took part in the killing.”

Saudi prosecutors had said that deputy intelligence chief Ahamed al-Assiri oversaw the Washington Post columnist’s killing in the kingdom’s Istanbul consulate in October 2018 and that he was advised by the royal court’s media Czar Saud al-Qahtani.

Al-Qahtani was investigated, but no indicted due to insufficient evidence and al-Assiri was investigated and charged but eventually acquitted on the same grounds.

The court also ruled that the Saudi consul general in Istanbul at the time, Mohammed al-Otaibi was not guilty. According to state media, he was released from prison after the verdicts were announced.

The State TV reported, after holding sessions, the trial concluded that there was no previous intent by those found guilty to murder.

The 11 unnamed individuals indicted in the case, five of these men were sentenced to death by the court, while three of them face a jail term for 24 years, and rest were acquitted. All can appeal the verdicts.

The trials of the accused were carried out in sheer secrecy. However, it was reported that a handful of diplomats, including from Turkey, as well as members of Khashoggi’s family, were allowed to attend the sessions.

Khashoggi was a critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who was living in a self-imposed exile in the United States where he had been granted residency status. The killing of a Saudi writer last year shocked the world.

Political pressure burdened and forced him out of his home country, and upon residing in the U.S, the writer begun an opinion column for the Washington Post, commenting on its foreign policy and repression of speech, taking direct hits at the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

After being granted residency status, Khashoggi had begun to build a network between Washington, Istanbul, London, and other world capitals. Khashoggi was planning to marry his fiancee Hatice Cengiz and resettle in Turkey, which was a prime reason for his visit to the consulate.

October 2, 2018, Khashoggi had walked into his country’s consulate in Istanbul to collect documents that would allow him to wed Cengiz, who waited for him outside the embassy. The unfortunate event took place, Khashoggi never walked out of the consulate.

Audio recordings, CCTV footage and forensic evidence all point to a horrendous crime; Khashoggi was murdered by a hit squad and then dismembered, the consulate was scrubbed clean, and his body disposed of. The whereabouts of his dismembered body are still unknown.

A body double wearing the dead Khashoggi’s clothes exited the consulate in what had all the hallmarks of carefully pre-planned operations executed.

The Premeditated Murder: After weeks of repeated denials, if they had anything to do with his disappearance, The kingdom eventually acknowledged that its officials were behind the gruesome murder of Khashoggi.

Two reports surfaced the ground; the Turkish intelligence agencies concluded that he was killed in a premeditated murder, while the CIA has reportedly found that the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the killing. However, Riyadh has consistently denied that the crown prince was involved.

Istanbul: Mehmet Celik, the managing editor of the Turkish Daily Sabah newspaper, told,

“The fact that several high-profile people have not been charged raises questions around the credibility of the trial and whether or not these people (unnamed men sentenced to death) were chosen as scapegoats. There has been evidence that phone calls were held between Qahtani and the people who carried out the murder,”

on Monday’s preliminary verdict raised questions around the credibility of the trail.