Jamal Khashoggi murder trial opens in Saudi Arabia with calls for death penalty

Saudi Arabia says preliminary results of an investigation show Saudi journalist and Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi is dead, and that 18 Saudi nationals have been arrested.

The suspects charged with killing journalist Jamal Khashoggi have appeared in court. His murder in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul threw the kingdom into turmoil, with many suspecting high-level involvement.

The result had been under review after President Erdogan and his AKP party cried foul. The president has called for a rerun of the vote, yet it is unclear if the election board will accede to that wish.

Germany's foreign minister says a decision to annul Istanbul's mayoral election and hold a rerun is "not transparent and incomprehensible." But Recep Tayyip Erdogan is hailing the step as a win for democracy.

Turkey's ruling party has been accused of using Istanbul city funds to benefit business contacts and the president's family. Now an opposition candidate for mayor is vowing to put an end to the nepotism ― if he can win.

Earlier this year, the UN said that Khashoggi was "the victim of a brutal and premeditated" murder, "planned and perpetrated" by Saudi officials. The journalist was allegedly strangled in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

The first mayoral vote in March was annulled after the ruling AKP party's losing candidate cried foul. Critics say the re-run is proof that President Erdogan does not want to lose grip on power.

Riyadh initially offered multiple accounts about Khashoggi's disappearance, but later said the journalist was killed by rogue officials inside it consulate. The UN blames Saudi officials for his "premeditated" murder.

Around one hundred people perfom the choreography of a Chilean feminist collective, entitled "The rapist is you!", which has become a global anthem against violence against women.

The sons of the murdered Saudi journalist say the family pardons those who were involved in their father's murder. The declaration could spare the lives of five convicted people sentenced to death.

In May, the elder son of slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi declared that his family had "forgiven" those responsible for the killing of their father in October 2018. The announcement would give legal reprieve to the five Saudi government agents who have been sentenced to death for the brutal murder at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. But Khashoggi's fiancée Hatice Cengiz has since renounced that statement.

Hatice Cengiz and US-based group DAWN have filed a civil suit, pursuing the Saudi prince and 28 others for damages. Khashoggi was murdered two years ago when he entered the Saudi consulate to obtain marriage papers.