Saudi Arabia's attorney general sought the death penalty for five of 11 defendants charged with the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi as their high-profile trial opened in Riyadh on Thursday (December 3rd), AFP reported.
All 11 accused were present with their lawyers at the first session of the trial, the attorney general said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.
Saudi Arabia had twice submitted formal requests for evidence from Turkey -- where Khashoggi was murdered inside the kingdom's Istanbul consulate on October 2nd -- but had received no response, the statement added.
The names of the defendants have not been officially released. Five top officials in Saudi Arabia -- including royal court insider Saud al-Qahtani -- were sacked over the Khashoggi murder, but there is no proof they are among those charged.
The defence team on Thursday requested a copy of the charge sheet and a timeframe within which to review the charges.
The prosecution agreed to both requests, SPA said. No date has been set for the next hearing.
