Saudi Arabia on Monday convicted eight people charged in the killing of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
According to Al Arabiya a court handed 20-year sentences to five people charged in the murder case, and three others were sentenced to between seven to 10 years.
Khashoggi went missing on October 2, 2018, while visiting the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Turkish authorities later revealed he was murdered inside the consulate by a Saudi hit squad.
Khashoggi’s body, believed to have been dismembered, has not been found.
A 59-year-old Washington Post columnist, Khashoggi wrote critically of the Saudi government.
Questions remain over Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s role in ordering the killing, with several western intelligence agencies alluding he had knowledge of the operation beforehand.
In March, Turkish prosecutors indicted 20 Saudi nationals over Khashoggi’s murder, including two former senior aides to Prince Mohammed, the kingdom’s de facto ruler.
