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International court must punish Saudi for Khashoggi murder: Analyst

Saturday, 16 February 2019 2:39 PM [ Last Update: Saturday, 16 February 2019 2:54 PM ]

A demonstrator holds a poster with a picture of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi outside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, on October 25, 2018. (Photo by Reuters)

It is important that Turkey is seeking international help for investigating the murder of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, says an analyst, adding that handing down a punishment for this crime to Riyadh by an international court would be much more meaningful.

The comments came after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country is working to carry the case of the murder of Khashoggi in Istanbul to an international court.

“Not only Turkey and the UN, the world is holding MbS [Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman] responsible for this obviously assassination at this level inside a diplomatic compound, the Istanbul consulate … Now Turkey moving towards an international investigation is very important because the amount of punishment Turkey can deal to Saudi Arabia is obviously limited but an international coalition, a consortium of reaching this decision and handing down this punishment is much more meaningful and this will set the precedent for the future showing people that you can’t do this, if you do this the United Nations will come after you and you will receive a meaningful punishment for this crime,” Yusuf Erim, TRT World Turkey analyst told Press TV in an interview on Saturday.

Khashoggi — a late but vocal critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — was killed and his body was dismembered by a Saudi hit squad inside the kingdom’s Istanbul consulate on October 2, 2018.

After weeks of denials of any involvement, the Riyadh regime eventually acknowledged the “premeditated” murder, yet many questions including the whereabouts of Khashoggi's body went unanswered.

Although Istanbul and Riyadh agreed to conduct an investigation into the murder, the joint inquiry has made little progress, with the Turkish authorities considering their Saudi counterparts uncooperative.

Eleven Saudis suspected of being an accessory to the murder are on trial in Riyadh and five others face capital punishment.

Erdogan has said the order to kill Khashoogi came from the "highest levels" of Saudi officials.

The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has also concluded bin Salman ordered the murder.