The Istanbul Heavy Criminal Court in Turkey opened its fourth hearing on July 8th, local time, to hear the murder of khashoggi, a Saudi journalist. In 2018, khashoggi, who contributed to the Washington Post and other media outlets, was killed after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, where the case was based, and Turkey launched an investigation after three trials. What’s new in this trial, come and see the reporters on the spot!
khashoggi fiancee, Khatij, attended the trial as a plaintiff. As in the previous three trials, none of the 26 Saudi suspects present at the trial. During the more than forty-minute hearing, the presiding judge called two witnesses. One of them was the driver of the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, who testified that the day before khashoggi’s murder, he had been instructed to pick up three Saudi citizens from the hotel to the consulate, and the next day, on the night of khashoggi murder, he had ordered them to be taken to the airport. Along the way, he described, the three men were nervous. Another witness, a Turkish journalist who had known Khashoggi for 10 years, said he had been worried about the possibility of being detained by the Saudi government upon his return.
Khashoggi, who had contributed to the Washington Post and other media outlets before his murder, was killed on October 2, 2018, after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. On 25 October of the same year, the Saudi prosecutor’s office announced that Khashoggi had died of murder and announced the final verdict in September 2020, but did not disclose the names of the defendants and questioned the lack of transparency in the trial. In February, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released an investigation into Khashoggi’s murder, saying Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed approved the “capture or killing” of Khashoggi in 2018. Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry issued a statement saying the kingdom totally rejected the U.S. investigation report.
In 2017, Saudi Arabia and other countries announced the severing of diplomatic relations with Qatar, while Turkey publicly expressed support for Qatar, causing strong Saudi dissatisfaction. In 2018, after Khashoggi’s murder, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan took aim at the Saudi government, saying the mastermind behind Khashoggi’s case would be exposed.
Notably, in late April, Turkish presidential spokesman Mehmet Kalin told Reuters he supported the Saudi trial of Khashoggi and said Turkey would “repair relations with Saudi Arabia.” In May, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu visited Saudi Arabia for the first time since 2017.
