KSA calls for death penalty for five in Khashoggi murder

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia Thursday called for the death penalty against five people accused of murdering journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the kingdom´s Istanbul consulate, but absolved the crown prince of any blame.

Khashoggi, the Washington Post contributor and critic of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was injected with "a large amount of a drug resulting in an overdose that led to his death" and his body was then dismembered and transferred out of the consulate, the public prosecutor said in a statement. It was the first Saudi confirmation of how the journalist died, but the prosecutor´s spokesman Shaalan al-Shaalan denied Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had any knowledge of the killing.

The prosecutor has requested the death penalty for the five people who "are charged with ordering and committing the crime and for the appropriate sentences for the other indicted individuals", Shaalan said.