A Saudi court on Monday overturned five death sentences over dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi's killing, a final ruling in the case that saw the Washington Post columnist killed and dismembered by a Saudi hit squad, Aljazeera reported.
The court handed 20-year sentences to five people and three others were sentenced to between seven to 10 years, state media reported. The eight convicted of the murder, which took place in Saudi Arabia's consulate in Turkey, were not identified.
The verdict comes after Khashoggi's sons said in May they had "pardoned" the killers, a move condemned as a "parody of justice" by a UN expert.
"The Saudi Prosecutor performed one more act today in this parody of justice. But these verdicts carry no legal or moral legitimacy," tweeted Callamard, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions.
"They came at the end of a process which was neither fair nor just, or transparent," she said.
Khashoggi went missing on October 2, 2018, while visiting the consulate in Istanbul. Turkish authorities later revealed he was murdered inside the building by a Saudi assassination team. His body has never been found.
ZZ/PR
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