A Turkish court suspended the Jamal Khashoggi murder trial on Thursday, transferring the case in which 26 Saudi nationals stand accused of brutally killing and dismembering the Washington Post journalist to Saudi Arabia.
The ruling effectively ends any chance at justice in the case, according to human rights groups. Saudi Arabia had refused to extradite the accused killers to Turkey to stand trial.
“Let’s not entrust the lamb to the wolf,” Ali Ceylan, a lawyer for Khashoggi’s widow, Hatice Cengiz, told the court on Thursday before the ruling. “Let’s protect the dignity and honor of the Turkish nation, and let’s not make such a decision.”
After the ruling, Cengiz reportedly said she would appeal the transfer of the trial to Saudi Arabia.
BIDEN’S FROSTY RELATIONSHIP WITH SAUDI ARABIA HAUNTS HIM IN ENERGY CRUNCH
Khashoggi, a U.S. resident, was killed in October 2018 at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, where he was seeking to obtain paperwork to marry Cengiz. Reports indicate that a Saudi special operations team drugged Khashoggi at the consulate and dismembered him with a bone saw while he was still alive. His body was never found.
“Transferring the Khashoggi trial from Turkey to Saudi Arabia would end any possibility of justice for him and would reinforce Saudi authorities’ apparent belief that they can get away with murder,” said Michael Page, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, before Thursday’s ruling.
“By transferring the case of a murder that was committed on its territory, Turkey will be knowingly and willingly sending the case back into the hands of those who bare its responsibility,” Amnesty International’s Secretary General Agnes Callamard said. “Indeed, the Saudi system has repeatedly failed to cooperate with the Turkish prosecutor, and it is clear that justice cannot be delivered by a Saudi court.”
Gokmen Baspinar, a lawyer for Cengiz, also told the court that Saudi Arabia’s trial of suspects in the case had already resulted in the acquittal of several defendants in the Turkish case.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The plan to transfer the case had been approved by the Turkish Justice Ministry before Thursday’s court ruling.
The decision may stem from efforts by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to improve his country’s relationship with Saudi Arabia, according to a report.
