Turkey will keep up efforts to uncover Khashoggi killing, Erdoğan aide says

Ankara will continue efforts to shed light on the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Turkey's communications director said after a "scandalous" Saudi court ruling on the case Monday.

"The Saudi court reached a scandalous verdict today after months of secret hearings on the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi," Fahrettin Altun said on Twitter.

A Saudi court on Monday sentenced five people to death for taking part in the murder of Khashoggi in a trial of 11 people.

Saudi Deputy Public Prosecutor and spokesman Shalaan al-Shalaan said three people had been handed jail terms totaling 24 years in prison for their role in covering up the crime and violating the law.

Al-Shalaan said the court dismissed charges against three other suspects and found them not guilty, including former royal adviser Saud al-Qahtani, former consul general in Istanbul Mohammed al-Oteibi and Ahmed Assiri, the former intelligence deputy chief.

Altun blasted the verdict, which he said "granted immunity" for perpetrators who "dispatched a death squad to Istanbul on a private jet", "signed Khashoggi's death warrant", disposed of his body and sought to sweep the murder "under the rug".

"To claim that a handful of intelligence operatives committed this murder is to mock the world's intelligence — to say the least. Turkey will continue its efforts to shed light on this incident," he stressed.

Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington Post and a U.S. resident, was murdered after entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2 of last year on a visit to pick up paperwork for his forthcoming marriage.