Letters | Saudi death penalty over murder of Jamal Khashoggi: are the courts always right?

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A protester holds a poster featuring Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi outside the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, on October 25, 2018. Photo: Reuters

Published: 5:35am, 11 Jan 2020Updated: 5:53am, 11 Jan 2020

It is a myth from Hollywood – not proven by history – that the Roman Colosseum was bloodied by Christian martyrs being eaten by lions, although it is true that this happened in many amphitheatres of the time, such as in the circus of Nero.

However, it is not a myth that a year ago The Washington Post columnist, Jamal Khashoggi, entered the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul, according to the authorities, and was killed there, his body reportedly dismembered. And, as the Saudi tyranny set up a bloody circus to try to calm global public opinion: a court sentenced five people to death for the crime.

The agents involved worked directly for the Saudi crown prince, but neither he nor his close collaborators initially accused of being the intellectual authors of the plan were convicted. The CIA concluded that the crown prince must have authorised the operation.

Agnes Callamard of the United Nations described the trial as the “antithesis of justice”. Amnesty International said it was a “whitewash” and for the Financial Times editorial board the verdicts “carry all the hallmarks of a sham trial”.

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told an American television programme that he took “full responsibility” for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi but denied ordering the killing. Photo: AP

Executions not only occur in Saudi Arabia, but also in countries like the US and Japan, where a Chinese man has just been executed, convicted of the horrific murder of a family in June 2003.

But I wonder what we shall say to the innocents previously executed in many countries.

.css-sioo19{color:#c79a00;}Letters | Saudi death penalty over murder of Jamal Khashoggi: are the courts always right?

Letters | Saudi death penalty over murder of Jamal Khashoggi: are the courts always right?