A judgment, qualified as final by the Saudi justice revised the sentences imposed on the eight defendants convicted of the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Five death sentences, handed down in December, were turned into prison terms.

A Saudi court on Monday overturned in a final verdict the five death sentences handed down for the murder of power-critical journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Last December, Saudi justice sentenced five people to death, so this judgment replaces their sentences with prison.

The new judgment sentences eight of the 11 defendants to terms ranging from seven to 20 years in prison.

A new judgment which "puts an end" to the case

"Five defendants were sentenced to 20 years in prison and three others to terms ranging from 7 to 10 years," said the official SPA agency, citing the prosecutor's office.

Those convicted on Monday have not been identified.

The attorney general's services, on the other hand, insisted that this new judgment "put an end" to the case of the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, marking Riyadh's desire to finally turn the page.

Turkish justice for its part began in early July to judge in absentia 20 Saudis, including two close to the crown prince, the former adviser Saoud al-Qahtani and the former intelligence number two, General Ahmed al-Assiri, identified like the sponsors of the murder.

The first was investigated in Saudi Arabia but was not charged "due to insufficient evidence" and the second, indicted, was acquitted on the same grounds, according to the Saudi prosecution.

However, the two men were officially ousted from the political circle of the crown prince, Mohammed Ben Salman.

The Saudi prosecutor exonerated the crown prince who accepted responsibility for the murder, because it happened "during his reign" while denying any knowledge of it before.

"The international community will not accept this farce"

Jamal Khashoggi's Turkish fiancée, Hatice Cengiz, had hoped that the trial in Turkey would "shed light" on several gray areas that remain, especially with regard to the remains of the former journalist.

On Twitter, she accused Ryad of closing this case without the identity of the real sponsors of the murder being known.

"The international community will not accept this farce," tweeted fiancée Hatice Cengiz.

"The Saudi authorities have closed this case without the world knowing the truth about who is responsible for Jamal's murder."

Last May, the journalists' sons announced that they had "forgiven" his killers.

According to the

Washington Post,

 they had previously received high-value property as compensation. 

The UN expert who investigated the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul said Monday that the Saudi verdicts in the case have no "legal or moral legitimacy", while welcoming the cancellation of death sentences.

"The Saudi prosecutor has played a new act in this parody of justice," said in a tweet the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, Agnès Callamard, whose opinion does not bind the UN.

These verdicts "were rendered at the end of a process which was neither fair, nor fair, nor transparent," she said.