Turkish court issues arrest warrant for Saudi nationals charged with Khashoggi’s murder

The Istanbul Criminal Court has issued a warrant for the arrest in absentia of 15 Saudi nationals charged with murdering journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the Arabic-language edition of Turkey’s Yeni Safak newspaper reported on Friday.

According to the newspaper, Ankara has requested Riyadh to extradite fifteen Saudis charged under the Turkish Criminal Code. Turkey believes them to be members of a group from Saudi Arabia, involved in Khashoggi’s murder, which took place in the country’s consulate in Istanbul in October. The United States, Germany, France and a number of other European countries have blacklisted them.

Khashoggi, known for his criticism of Saudi Arabia's policies, left his home country and moved to the United States in 2017. He worked for The Washington Post, analyzing the situation in Saudi Arabia and the country's foreign policy. On October 20, Saudi authorities announced that the journalist died in a fight in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the murder had been carefully planned. The international community condemned Khashoggi’s murder and called for a transparent investigation.

On November 15, the Saudi prosecution announced the results of its investigation, saying that 21 people had been detained and 11 were charged with involvement in the murder, five of whom might face the death penalty.