A former Saudi royal adviser and ex-senior intelligence official played key roles in the mission that ultimately led to the killing of government critic Jamal Khashoggi, and authorities will seek the death penalty for five people who confessed to the murder, according to a top official in the kingdom.
Sheikh Shalan al-Shalan, the deputy attorney general, said that 11 people out of 21 held have been charged over Khashoggi's murder at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who runs the day-to-day affairs of the world's top oil exporter, had no knowledge of the mission, al-Shalan and Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said at separate news conferences.
"This was individuals exceeding their authority and going beyond their mandate, and these individuals made a tremendous mistake and for that mistake they will pay a price," al-Jubeir said. "The notion that somebody 6,000 miles away can determine guilt without having access to the facts, based on hearsay and based on leaks in newspapers, to me doesn't sound fair."