Saudi court

Main opposition Republican People's Party leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has vowed that if his party comes to power in the upcoming elections, they will reopen the case of Jamal Khashoggi, a dissident Saudi journalist who was killed on the premises of the Saudi Arabia's General Consulate in Istanbul, which was transferred to Saudi legal institutions.

People hold pictures of Jamal Khashoggi at an event marking the second anniversary of his murder in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, on 2 October 2020. Photo: EPA-EFE/TOLGA BOZOGLU.

The decision shocked human rights defenders who said this would end all hope of justice in the case.

Istanbul prosecutor's office said on March 25 it had prepared an indictment against 20 suspects over the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, including the former deputy head of Saudi Arabia's general intelligence and a former royal adviser.

A UN human rights expert condemned a Saudi court's death sentences over the 2018 killing of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul following a secretive trial which she called the "antithesis of justice."

Ankara will continue efforts to shed light on the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Turkey's communications director said after a "scandalous" Saudi court ruling on the case on Dec. 23.

"The Saudi court reached a scandalous verdict today after months of secret hearings on the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi," Fahrettin Altun said on Twitter.

Masked men threw firebombs at an intelligence service compound in the city of Qatif in eastern Saudi Arabia, activists said on Jan. 11, in an apparent reprisal for the execution of a prominent Shi'ite Muslim cleric earlier this month. 

Saudi blogger Raef Badawi was flogged in public Jan. 9 near a mosque in the Red Sea city of Jeddah, receiving 50 lashes for "insulting Islam", witnesses said.
      
In September, a Saudi court upheld a sentence of 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes for Badawi, and he is expected to have 20 weekly whipping sessions until his punishment is complete.
      

A Saudi court has sentenced 13 people, including an Afghan and a Qatari, to between 18 months and 30 years in prison for plotting an Al-Qaeda attack against US forces.