The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said today, Tuesday, that the trial conducted by Saudi Arabia in the case of the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi lacked transparency, and was marred by Awar in determining responsibility for the crime.
"This is a case that lacks adequate transparency in the justice process. Those responsible (for Khashoggi's murder) must be prosecuted and judgments commensurate with the scale of the crime," said UN spokesman Robert Colville in a press briefing in Geneva, referring at the same time to the international organization’s opposition to the death penalty.
He added, "There is a big problem related to transparency and accountability in the case."
On Monday, a Saudi court sentenced 8 people to prison terms ranging from 7 to 20 years, after being convicted of Khashoggi's murder in 2018, according to Saudi official media.
The sentences were issued 4 months after the Khashoggi family pardoned his killers, which resulted in their non-execution of the death sentences.
The final rulings came after Khashoggi's sons declared a "pardon" for their father's killers in May.
The expert in the United Nations, Agnes Callamard, who investigated the assassination of Khashoggi, confirmed on Monday that the Saudi rulings issued in the case are not characterized by any "legal or moral legitimacy."
The United Nations special rapporteur on arbitrary executions wrote on Twitter that "the Saudi prosecutor has taken on a new role in this judicial drama, but these rulings do not have any legal or moral legitimacy, as they were issued following a process that was not fair, just or transparent."
For her part, Khashoggi's fiancé described the final rulings issued by the Saudi judiciary as a "farce," accusing Riyadh of closing the file without revealing the identities of the actual perpetrators of the crime.
"The international community will not accept this farce," Khadija Genghis wrote on Twitter. "The Saudi authorities closed this file without the world knowing who was really responsible for killing Jamal."
Medecins Sans Frontières condemned these rulings. The Secretary-General of the non-governmental organization Christophe Deloire told the French Press Agency that “this trial - which the public and journalists were absent from - did not allow the truth to be known and what happened on October 2, 2018 at the consulate. Saudi Arabia in Istanbul (where Jamal Khashoggi was murdered), and whoever issued the order in advance to commit this state crime. "
'Deterrent provisions'
On the other hand, the lawyer for the Jamal Khashoggi family described yesterday, Monday, the ruling issued by a Saudi court as "fair and deterrent," according to Al-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper quoted him.
Lawyer Mutassim Khashoggi said, "The crimes committed by those convicted are major crimes, and the provisions in the common right that include various prison sentences are fair judgments accepted by the court that rules in the law of God and public order."
And he believed that the provisions "are considered a deterrent to every offending criminal, whatever he may be."