Director of Communications Fahrettin Altun touched upon the Saudi Arabian court’s verdict regarding the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, saying, “Those who signed Khashoggi’s death warrant, dispatched a death squad to Istanbul and disappeared the slain journalist’s body have been cleared of blame through sham trials. The freedom of press and the freedom of expression have been disregarded.
Altun authored an article in his microblogging platform Medium account with regard to the Saudi Arabian court’s verdict on the trial of the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.
Recalling that the Saudi Arabian chief public prosecutor’s office last week sentenced five suspects to death for the murder of Khashoggi, a dissident of the regime, Altun said that the other three suspects were given a total of 24 years in prison. Altun stated the following:
“In line with this decision of the chief public prosecutor's office, we must accept that Khashoggi was murdered by a group of intelligence officers on their own initiative and that the Saudi administration had no connection with the murder. People who are known for their close ties to Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman are not guilty in this execution, either. Moreover, the court has not even deigned to disclose the names of people who were sentenced. We can obviously consider these verdicts regarding the murder of Khashoggi as stating the obvious. Those who signed Khashoggi’s death warrant, dispatched a death squad to Istanbul and disappeared the slain journalist’s body have been cleared of blame through sham trials. The freedom of press and the freedom of expression have been disregarded.”
It is unacceptable that the execution process is swept under the rug with a symbolic trial while all the evidence regarding the assassination of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi is obvious. We are witnessing the acquittal of perpetrators who murdered a journalist and ripped his body to pieces before the eyes of the world. No one knows why the institutions and countries that talk about the importance of press freedom remain silent about this."
Highlighting that Turkey has done its best to uncover the perpetrators of the murder, Altun expressed relevant agencies had followed the process closely from the outset and briefed the world public in a transparent manner almost every day.
Altun indicated that Turkey cooperated with Saudi Arabia, Russia, US, United Kingdom and Germany and shared the evidence on the assassination, conveying that Turkey assisted the investigation made by the United Nations Special Rapporteur Agnes Callamard to be more effective.
"They tried to sweep the murder under the rug "
Reminding that Turkey had indicated from the beginning that the murder of Khashoggi must be taken to an international court, Altun continued as follows:
"However, neither the Saudi administration nor the West took these calls seriously and people in connection with the murder were tried in Saudi Arabia. That is how we have reached this point. We see that there is an attempt to sweep this brutal murder under the rug despite Turkey’s insistence and efforts. Unfortunately, the Saudi administration which cannot even answer the question concerning the whereabouts of Khashoggi's body is not acting fairly. It is also worth mentioning that the international public that talks about the importance of press freedom everyday has failed in the Khashoggi case. The important question is that: Would we have seen the same result again if the international public had been more active to uncover the real perpetrators of Khashoggi’s assassination and if there was more struggle for fair and impartial trial?"