A Saudi court has overturned five death sentences over journalist Jamal Khashoggi's murder in a final ruling that jailed eight defendants to between seven and 20 years, state media reported.
"Five of the convicts were given 20 years in prison and another three were jailed for 7-10 years," the official Saudi Press Agency said, citing a spokesman for the public prosecutor.
None of the defendants were named in what was described as the final court ruling on the killing which had sparked an international outcry.
The verdict came after Mr Khashoggi's sons said in May they had "pardoned" the killers, a move condemned as a "parody of justice" by a UN expert.
The family's pardon spared the lives of five unnamed people sentenced to death over the 2018 murder in a December court ruling, which was lambasted by human rights groups after two top aides to the crown prince were exonerated.
Mr Khashoggi - a royal family insider turned critic - was killed and dismembered at the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul in October 2018, in a case that tarnished the reputation of de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Mr Khashoggi, a 59-year-old critic of the crown prince, was strangled and his body cut into pieces by a 15-man Saudi squad inside the consulate, according to Turkish officials. His remains have not been found.
Riyadh has described the murder as a "rogue" operation, but both the CIA and a United Nations special envoy have directly linked Prince Mohammed (below) to the killing, a charge the kingdom vehemently denies.
UN expert dismisses ruling, Khashoggi fiancée brands it a 'farce'
Mr Khashoggi's fiancée branded the court ruling a "farce".
"The ruling handed down today in Saudi Arabia again makes a complete mockery of justice," Hatice Cengiz said in a statement posted on Twitter, adding: "The international community will not accept this farce."
A UN expert dismissed the ruling, decrying especially that top officials who allegedly ordered his killing had walked free.
"The Saudi Prosecutor performed one more act today in this parody of justice. But these verdicts carry no legal or moral legitimacy," UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Agnes Callamard said in a tweet.
She denounced the fact that "the high-level officials who organised and embraced the execution ... have walked free from the start", and that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman "has remained well protected against any kind of meaningful scrutiny in his country".
Turkey said the Saudi court ruling failed to meet expectations.
"The final verdict that a Saudi court issued today regarding journalist Jamal Khashoggi's execution inside the Kingdom's consulate in Istanbul fell short of meeting the expectations of Turkey and the international community," Fahrettin Altun, spokesman for the Turkish presidency, wrote on Twitter.
