Analysis: "Symbolic trial in Turkey against Khashoggi's executioners"



Photographers and journalists from all over the world are thrust into frying heat when Jamal Khashoggi's fiancee Hatice Cengiz makes a brief public appearance after the first day of the attention-grabbing trial.

Quiet and dignified, she tells of the hope of finding out what happened to Jamal Khashoggi's body after the murder. She asks the outside world not to forget the murder or give up the demand for justice.

But of course, she is painfully aware that the Turkish trial will not mean the trial of the brutal murder that took place at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul 2018, since none of the defendants are present. The genuinely guilty are likely to get away with their crime.

Turkish Prosecutor points out Saudi Arabia's former intelligence chief Ahmed al-Asiri and the crown prince of this advisor Saud al-Qahtani as the brains behind the murder. Another 18 people are accused of having carried out and assisted in the murder.

Turkish intelligence has presented convincing evidence of the murder. Above all, a sound recording of the murder from secret interception by the consulate.

Although the murder of Khashoggi triggered a troublesome crisis for Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the oil-rich kingdom's alliance with the United States and the West has not been significantly affected.

The diplomatic relations exist even if the crown prince's reputation is disgraceful. The trial is a tool for Turkey to remind the outside world of the indescribable cruelty that has become closely allied in the Middle East.

A little ironically, it is also Turkish justice that takes up the fight for the heinous murder of a journalist and regime critic.

In the same courthouse today another trial was underway against eleven human rights activists from Amnesty, including the Swedish IT consultant Ali Gharavi. But four others were convicted of bizarre charges of terrorist offenses. Despite lack of evidence, former Amnesty chairman Taner Kilic received more than six years in prison.

Jamal Khashoggi's fiancée Hatice Cengiz's mere presence reminds the outside world that she cannot have peace until she sees true justice. The same goes for the Turkish human rights activists who have been unfairly sentenced to long prison terms.