Activists: Vatican is 'meddling' in Italy's LGBT rights law

Vatican Italy Gay Rights

FILE - In this Friday, May 7, 2021 filer, Italian lawmaker Alessandro Zan paints a bench in the colors of the rainbow, in Milan, Italy. The Vatican has formally opposed proposed Italian legislation that seeks expand anti-discrimination protections to people who are gay and transgender, along with women and people with disabilities, the leading Italian daily Corriere della Sera reported on Tuesday. Activists immediately denounced Vatican meddling in the Italian legislative process as “unprecedented. Italian politicians and activist groups reacted strongly to what they see as an attempt to derail the so-called Zan Law, named for a Democratic Party lawmaker and gay rights activist Alessandro Zan. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno, File)

COLLEEN BARRY
Tue, June 22, 2021


MILAN (AP) — The Vatican has formally opposed a proposed Italian law expanding anti-discrimination protections to the LGBT community, a leading Italian newspaper reported Tuesday. Activists immediately denounced the move as “unprecedented” Vatican meddling in Italy's legislative process.

The Vatican foreign minister, Archbishop Paul Gallagher, sent a letter last week to the Italian ambassador to the Holy See saying the proposed law violates Italy’s diplomatic agreement with the Vatican and seeking changes, the Milan-based daily Corriere della Sera reported.

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni confirmed that a diplomatic communication had been sent on June 17 but did not elaborate.


According to Corriere, the Vatican's objections include parts of the law that would require schools as well as Catholic schools to organize activities on a day designated nationally to fight homophobia and transphobia.

Italian politicians and advocacy groups reacted strongly to what they saw as an attempt to derail the Zan Law, named for the Democratic Party lawmaker and gay rights activist Alessandro Zan. In the past, the Vatican has objected to Italian laws legalizing abortion and divorce and backed unsuccessful referendums after the fact to try to repeal them.

The proposed law adds women and people who are gay, transgender or have disabilities to the classes of those protected under a law banning discrimination and punishing hate crimes. It was approved by the lower house last November, but remains stalled in a Senate commission by objections from Italy’s right wing.

“We support the Zan law, and naturally we are open to dialogue,’’ on any legal issues, Democratic Party leader Enrico Letta told RAI state radio Tuesday. But he said his party wants to see the law enacted, calling it “a law of civilization.”

An atheist group in Italy protested the Vatican’s actions, saying they “violated the independence and the sovereignty of the Republic.”

“The government has the political and moral obligation to not only just resist pressure but to unilaterally denounce this unprecedented interference in state affairs,’’ the secretary of the Union of Atheists and Agnostic Rationalists, Roberto Grendene, said in a statement.

A gay-rights group, Gay Party for LGBT+ Rights, called on Premier Mario Draghi's government to reject the Vatican’s interference “and improve the law so that it truly has, at its heart, the fight against homophobia and transphobia.”

"We find worrying the Vatican meddling in the law against homophobia,'' said the group’s spokesman, Fabrizio Marrazzo.

Marrazzo said Gay Pride Parades in Milan and Rome on Saturday would send a clear message from the streets on the topic “and defend the laicity of the state.”

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Vatican in 'unprecedented' 

protest against Italian 

homophobia law

Nick Squires

Tue, June 22, 2021

The annual Gay Pride parade in Rome - file photo taken in June 2019 - AFP

The Vatican has lodged an “unprecedented” interference in Italian politics by objecting to a law that would criminalise violence and hate speech against gay and transgender people.

The Holy See confirmed on Tuesday that it had sent a diplomatic protest to the government of prime minister Mario Draghi over the so-called Zan bill, which would punish acts of discrimination and incitement to violence against gay, lesbian, transgender and disabled people.

The bill, promoted by Alessandro Zan, a gay MP from the centre-Left Democratic Party, was approved by the lower house of parliament in November.

It is now going through the Senate, where it faces stiff resistance from hard-Right politicians such as Matteo Salvini, the head of the League, and Giorgia Meloni, the up-and-coming leader of Brothers of Italy, heirs to Italy’s Fascist movement.

The Italian bill is being pushed by Alessandro Zan, an MP with the centre-Left Democratic Party - AP

Conservatives and some Catholics argue that the bill would be an attack on freedom of expression and that it is unnecessary because existing laws already condemn homophobia.

The Vatican is worried that the passing of the law could lead to the Catholic Church in Italy being prosecuted for refusing to conduct gay marriages, for opposing adoption by gay couples through Catholic institutions or for refusing to teach gender theory in Catholic schools.

But its decision to lodge a formal protest with Italy, a separate sovereign state, was described by atheist groups and LGBT associations, as well as the Italian press, as “unprecedented”.

The protest was sent last week by a British archbishop, Paul Gallagher, who as Secretary for Relations with States is effectively the Vatican’s foreign minister.

As Secretary for Relations with States, British archbishop Paul Gallagher is the Vatican's de facto foreign minister - AFP

The Vatican argues that the Zan bill violates the Concordat, part of the Lateran Pacts that have since 1929 governed relations Rome and the Holy See.

The proposed law would jeopardise the “liberty” that was guaranteed by the treaty to the Catholic Church in Italy, the diplomatic note said.

The Italian Bishops Conference has already protested against the bill, saying that a “law intended to fight discrimination must not pursue that objective with intolerance.”

The bill would “put at risk” fundamental principles such as freedom of thought and speech, Cesare Mirabelli, a former president of Italy's constitutional court, told Vatican News, the Vatican’s news outlet.

But Mr Zan, the MP pushing the bill, said the Vatican’s concerns were unfounded. “The bill does not restrict in any way freedom of expression or religious freedom,” he wrote on Twitter.

“All the concerns and doubts will be listened to, but there cannot be any foreign interference in the workings of a sovereign parliament.”

UK Government calls for ‘more reuse and recycling’ after Amazon destroys millions of items in UK every year


Samuel Osborne
Tue, June 22, 2021


Various technology products they found sorted into boxes marked

The government has called for “more re-use and recyling of products” after an investigation at one of Amazon’s Scottish warehouses suggested it is destroying millions of items every year.

ITV News found items including smart TVs, laptops, drones, hairdryers and thousands of sealed face masks were sorted into boxes marked “destroy” at the Amazon Fulfilment Centre in Dunfermline, Fife.

One ex-employee at the site, one of 24 such warehouses across the UK, said their "target was to generally destroy 130,000 items a week".

The anonymous worker added: "I used to gasp. There's no rhyme or reason to what gets destroyed: Dyson fans, Hoovers, the occasional MacBook and iPad; the other day, 20,000 Covid (face) masks still in their wrappers.

"Overall, 50 per cent of all items are unopened and still in their shrink wrap. The other half are returns and in good condition."

Commenting on the news, a spokesperson for the prime minister, Boris Johnson, said: “The business secretary has already spoken to Amazon on this issue. We absolutely want to see more re-use and recycling of products.

“We are looking at the regulations to see how we can increase re-use and recycling and make sure retailers take more responsibility for things like electrical goods.”

ITV’s investigation also found a leaked document showed more than 124,000 items were marked "destroy" during one week in April - compared to just 28,000 items in the same period labelled "donate".

However, a Amazon spokesperson told the PA news agency that while the investigation followed lorries to a landfill site, no items are disposed of in that way. The Lochhead Landfill is also part of the Dunfermline Recycling Centre.

A statement from Amazon said: "We are working towards a goal of zero product disposal and our priority is to resell, donate to charitable organisations or recycle any unsold products.

"No items are sent to landfill in the UK. As a last resort, we will send items to energy recovery, but we're working hard to drive the number of times this happens down to zero.

"We are committed to reducing our environmental footprint and building a circular economy programme with the aim of reducing returns, reusing and reselling products, and reducing disposals."

Energy recovery is when recyclable materials are stripped from products before the rest is reconverted into energy and put through the national grid.

But the spokesperson maintained this was a last resort for the company - and also denied it was cheaper to dispose of the items instead of returning them to the domestic sellers.

Mark Ruskell, Scottish Greens environment spokesman and Mid Scotland and Fife MSP, said: "Amazon's net profit has soared during this crisis while many people have struggled to make ends meet.

"It's therefore obscene that this multi-billion corporation finds it more profitable to put unused items in the bin than help people out.

"It is a damning indictment of our economy that the throwaway culture is put before people's needs. Even if it is not reflective of wider Amazon policy, the company must answer for why the Dunfermline warehouse has such high levels of waste and so little is resold or given to charities.

"This shocking revelation shows that governments must do more to force companies to design waste out of their systems, with regulation and fines where they are failing to do the right thing."

Additional reporting by PA

Amazon isn't alone in reportedly destroying unsold goods. Nike, Burberry, H&M and others have also come under fire for torching their own products.

Aleeya Mayo
Tue, June 22, 2021

Models showcase Burberry's latest designs during London Fashion Week February 2020. John Phillips/BFC/Getty Images for BFC


Amazon reportedly destroyed 130,000 unsold and returned items in a single week.


Burberry, Urban Outfitters, H&M, Nike, and Victoria's Secret have also come under fire for the practice.

The fashion industry makes up 10% of humanity's carbon emissions.

Amazon is not the only company that has been reportedly destroying unsold goods.

Amazon came under fire this week after a former employee told ITV, a British news channel, that employees at a warehouse in Scotland were instructed to destroy 130,000 unsold and returned items in just one week - totalling more than a million items per year.

But Amazon is far from the only offender.

Brands including Burberry, Urban Outfitters, H&M, Nike, JCPenney, Michael Kors, Eddie Bauer, and Victoria's Secret have all been accused of doing the same, according to various reports in recent years.

Burberry came clean about burning clothes and said it "used specialist incinerators that harness energy from the process." The destroyed goods totaled about $37 million, compared to Burberry's revenue of $3.8 billion that year.

"Burberry has insisted it's recycling the clothing into energy, except the energy that is recouped from burning clothing doesn't come anywhere near the energy that was used to create the garments," Timo Rissanen, an associate dean at Parsons School of Design and a professor of fashion design and sustainability told Vox in a 2018 interview.

The amount of garments that people have been buying annually has been steadily increasing since the early 2000's. Insider previously reported that the fashion industry makes up "10% of humanity's carbon emissions, dries up water sources, and pollutes river streams."

Chanel and Louis Vuitton have also participated in the burning of merchandise. Richemont, the Swiss company behind brands like Cartier and Montblanc, said in 2018 it had destroyed more than $500 million worth of watches to keep them out of the hands of resellers.

In response to ITV's reporting, an Amazon spokesperson told Insider that no clothes were sent to landfills, but "as a last resort," some may be sent to "energy recovery."

"We're working hard to drive the number of times this happens down to zero," Amazon said.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Poll: Most Americans say LGBTQ discrimination still exists


Jennifer De Pinto

CBS
Tue, June 22, 2021

A big majority of Americans — nearly 8 in 10 — say the last 50 years have brought progress in ending discrimination against LGBTQ people. However, most also feel some discrimination still exists in society today.



Majorities think at least some discrimination exists today against people who are gay and lesbian and those who are transgender, and comparatively, more see "a lot" of discrimination against transgender people specifically.



These levels of perceived discrimination are slightly lower now than in 2019, when similar questions were asked.


Transgender student athletes

Several states have recently proposed legislation concerning transgender student athletes. Our poll finds most Americans overall think transgender student athletes should only be allowed to play on teams that match the sex they were born as, while four in 10 say they should be allowed to play on a team that matches the gender they consider themselves to be. These views extend across most demographic groups.



Democrats and liberals stand apart from the public overall on this. Majorities of these groups say transgender student athletes should be allowed to play on a team that matches the gender they consider themselves to be. Most other political and demographic groups feel these athletes should only play on the team that matches their sex at birth.



Another factor that shapes views on this: personally knowing someone who is transgender.

More than half of those who know a transgender person say transgender student athletes should be allowed to play on team sports that match the gender they consider themselves to be.

A third of Americans report knowing someone who is transgender — either a family member, friend, work colleague or themselves.

Also, most of those who perceive "a lot" of discrimination against transgender individuals believe transgender athletes should be permitted to play on the team matches their gender identity.



Same-sex marriage

This is not the first time we've seen personal relationships influence views concerning LGBTQ issues.

During the earlier days of the debate over same-sex marriage and before it was legal nationwide, our polling found people who knew someone who is gay or lesbian were more supportive of legal marriage for same-sex couples compared to those who did not know someone. And in 2013, when those who once opposed same-sex marriage were asked why they changed their mind to supporting it, knowing someone who was gay or lesbian was among the top answers given.

Today, same sex marriage is supported by a majority of Americans and has been for nearly a decade.



Support has become more widespread over time. Those across all age groups and education levels favor legal marriage for same-sex couples.

Some differences along political and ideological lines remain, however. Large majorities of Democrats, liberals, independents and moderates support same-sex marriage, while most conservatives do not. Among Republicans, there is more support among those who are younger — Republicans under age 45 are split on same-sex marriage- while two-thirds of older Republicans are opposed.

Religiosity plays a role too. People who say religion is "very important" in their daily life do not think same-sex marriage should be legal.

Democrats and liberals were early supporters of same-sex marriage and, today, these groups favor allowing transgender athletes to play on a sports team that matches the gender they consider themselves to be.

This CBS News survey was conducted by YouGov using a nationally representative sample of 2,073 U.S. adult residents interviewed between June 11-14, 2021. This sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, and education based on the U.S. Census American Community Survey, and the U.S. Census Current Population Survey, as well as 2020 Presidential vote. The margin of error is ± 2.6 points.

Pakistan premier criticized for comments on sexual violence

FILE - In this Nov. 19, 2020 file photo, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan speaks during a joint news conference with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani at the Presidential Palace in Kabul, Afghanistan. Khan is facing growing criticism at home for seemingly blaming a rise in sexual violence in Pakistan on women wearing “very few clothes.” Khan drew nationwide condemnation Tuesday, June 22, 2021, from human rights activists and the country’s opposition, which sought an apology. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul, File)

MUNIR AHMED

Tue, June 22, 2021, 

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Prime Minister Imran Khan faced growing criticism at home on Tuesday after seemingly blaming a rise in sexual violence in Pakistan on women wearing “very few clothes."

His comments drew nationwide condemnation from human rights activists and the country’s opposition, which sought an apology. The controversial statements aired over the weekend came in an interview on Axios, a documentary news series on HBO.

“If a woman is wearing very few clothes it will have an impact, it will have an impact on the men, unless they’re robots," the prime minister said. “I mean it’s common sense.”

Asked directly by interviewer Jonathan Swan whether the way that women dress could provoke acts of sexual violence, Khan said: “It depends on which society you live in. If in a society where people haven’t seen that sort of thing, it will have an impact on them.”

It was the second time in two months that Khan sparked outrage after suggesting that women's attire plays a role in provoking sexual violence against them.

In April, in an online show on state-run Pakistan Television, Khan claimed that wearing a veil — the traditional head covering worn by conservative Muslim women — would protect women from sexual assault.

Khan’s government has faced criticism over its failure to curb sexual attacks on women since he came into power by winning a simple majority in parliamentary elections in 2018.

Pakistan has been rocked by high-profile sexual attacks, including last September when a woman was gang-raped in front of her children after her car broke down on a major freeway at night near Lahore.

Sexual harassment and violence against women is not uncommon in Pakistan. Nearly 1,000 women are killed in Pakistan each year in so-called “honor killings” for allegedly violating conservative norms on love and marriage.

The weekend interview with Khan in Islamabad covered a wide range of issues, but his comments seemingly linking how women dress to sexual violence garnered by far the most attention. The former cricket star drew broad criticism on social media from both civil rights groups and everyday Pakistanis.

“Shame on You,” Pakistani woman Frieha Altaf said on Twitter.

Marriyum Aurrangzeb, spokeswoman for the opposition Pakistan Muslim League party, condemned Khan on Twitter for his remarks.

“The world got an insight into a mindset of a sick, misogynistic, degenerate & derelict IK (Imran Khan). Its not women’s choices that lead to sexual assault rather the choices of men who choose to engage in this despicable and vile CRIME,” she said.

However, female lawmakers from Khan's Tehreek-e-Insaf party defended the prime minister, saying his comments were taken out of context, without elaborating.

Zartaj Gul, the minister for climate change, said at a news conference Tuesday “our culture and our way of dressing is idealized across the world," referring to conservative norms of dressing in Pakistan.

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'The risk you run': 

Colombia's women protesters

 on sexual violence

 Sophie Foggin - Medellín, Colombia

Tue, June 22, 2021, 5:10 PM·6 min read

Women have been at the forefront of the wave of anti-government protests

A woman who had become separated from the group she was protesting with felt a tug on the homemade flag she was wearing as a cape during an anti-government demonstration in the capital, Bogotá, in the early hours of 3 June.

"A group of roughly eight police officers surrounded me," the woman - who has asked for her name to be withheld for security reasons - recounts. "One of them said: 'This one is a good one to rape'."

"He had a pellet gun and was pointing it closely at me. I told him to do it," she said, defiantly. "He just wanted to scare me," she explained, adding that other protesters came to her rescue soon after the officer had uttered the threat.

Verbal abuse, threats of sexual violence and discrimination have not been isolated incidents during the wave of anti-government protests that has been spreading through Colombia since 28 April.

• Why Colombia's protests are unlikely to fizzle out

• 'Colombians are not scared anymore'

There have been at least 113 cases of gender-based violence, according to a report by the Office of the Ombudsman, an official government agency tasked with overseeing the protection of citizens' human and civil rights.

"They started calling us bitches, whores, sluts," Karla Cardoso says of the abuse police officers hurled at her and other women during an anti-government protest in Medellín on 20 May. "They asked us what we were doing out at night, threatening to kill us," the 25-year-old student says.

This 19-year-old protester said she was determined to continue marching

And according to Temblores, an NGO which monitors police violence, it does not always stop at threats. The NGO says it has received reports from 28 protesters who allege they were sexually abused by members of the security forces. They include allegations of having been forced to strip naked, being groped and being raped.

Seven allegations of sexual violence by security forces are currently being investigated by the attorney-general's office. Among them is the case of a 17-year-old girl who was allegedly sexually abused by police in the city of Popayán. The girl killed herself the day after the alleged abuse.

Linda Cabrera, the director of feminist organisation Sisma Mujer, says that the aim of gender-based violence is to spread fear among women to deter them from protesting. But many women have not been deterred. They say that, if anything, the violence has made them more determined to play a vital role in the demonstrations.

Some are organising vigils and sit-ins while others make a point of marching right out front at demonstrations. Many say they feel vulnerable at protests, though, especially when they are alone.

Women have been right at the front at many demonstrations

Allegations of sexual attacks on protesters are not new to this latest wave of protests. Temblores says it has received 132 reports of sexually violent acts committed by police between 2017 and 2021. The NGO says the evidence it has gathered suggests they were pre-meditated and routinely orchestrated by groups of officers inside enclosed spaces.

Katherine Acosta, a 23-year-old student from Medellín, says she was the victim of such an attack in June 2020. She told the BBC that she was arrested after calling out an officer for spraying a woman in the face with an aerosol can of paint during an anti-government protest.

"When we got inside the station, [the police officer] touched me everywhere, my breasts, my intimate parts, he pressed his penis against me."

Protesters use vinegar to counteract the effects of tear gas

The BBC put the allegations of sexual violence by police officers to Colombia's Office of the Inspector General, which oversees the conduct of public sector workers.

It replied that "any act of sexual violence is reproachable and violates human rights, no matter who the victim or the perpetrator is".

Asked if sexually violent behaviour was a systemic problem within the police force, the Inspector General's Office - which is currently in charge of investigating the allegations - said there were no studies or quantitative results to suggest such a pattern.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) earlier this month sent a team to Colombia to investigate the allegations of excessive use of force by police during the protests.

Ahead of its arrival, President Iván Duque proposed a series of police reforms, including the creation of a human rights directorate led by an international expert, a better system to follow up on citizens' complaints and the expansion of disciplinary standards for officers.

Rights groups have called for the riot police to be dismantled

But these reforms have yet to be approved by Colombia's Congress, and their passage is far from certain.

Rights groups have also pointed out that even if the reforms pass, the police will still fall under the jurisdiction of the defence ministry, meaning cases of abuse will continue to be judged by military tribunals, which they consider problematic.

Rights groups also think that more has to be done to tackle Colombia's impunity levels.

Ms Acosta filed a report with the police but many victims are reluctant to report cases of sexual violence because so few perpetrators ever get punished. According to Sisma Mujer, 90% of reports of sexual violence filed in 2020 - including that of Ms Acosta - have not progressed past the initial inquiry stage.

Despite the risks, women have not been deterred from protesting

Many victims also say they fear there could be reprisals for speaking out or that they could become victims again, explains human rights lawyer Carolina Martínez.

A human rights advocate from Medellín, who asked for her name to be withheld, told the BBC that she was sexually assaulted by a medic while undergoing an examination at Colombia's Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences.

She had gone to the institute, which is attached to Colombia's Office of the Attorney General, to document the injuries she says she sustained when police used excessive force during a protest she attended.

And the security forces are not the only ones accused of sexual violence during the protests. In the city of Cali, a group of protesters is being investigated for the sexual assault of a female police officer.

The protester from Bogotá who says she was threatened with rape by a police officer also recounts being sexually assaulted by a male fellow protester days after her encounter with the police.

"Being a woman means being exposed to this - the risk of being raped by a police officer, or anyone really, when you go out to protest."

Operatives who killed Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi received training in the US, New York Times reports

Lauren Frias,Azmi Haroun

Tue, June 22, 2021, 

In this article:

People hold posters picturing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and lightened candles during a gathering outside the Saudi Arabia consulate in Istanbul, on October 25, 2018. Yasin Akgul/Getty Images

• Four Saudis involved in the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi received training in the US prior to his killing, NYT reported.

• The contract for the paramilitary training was approved by the State Department, according to the NYT.

• The training initially began in 2014 and continued during at least the first year of Trump's presidency, according to The Times.

• See more stories on Insider's business page.

Four Saudis who were involved in the death of the Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 received paramilitary training in the US the year prior, The New York Times reported Tuesday.

The contract for the paramilitary training was approved by the State Department and carried out by a contracted group called Tier 1, according to documents and sources familiar with the matter, The Times reported.

"The State Department initially granted a license for the paramilitary training of the Saudi Royal Guard to Tier 1 Group starting in 2014, during the Obama administration," according to The Times. "The training continued during at least the first year of former President Donald J. Trump's term."

Arkansas-based security company Tier 1 Group provided the paramilitary training. The company said the training was defensive in nature and intended to teach how to better protect Saudi leaders, including "safe marksmanship" and "countering an attack," The Times reported.

Louis Bremer, a senior executive of Cerberus, the parent company of Tier 1 Group, confirmed the company's role in the paramilitary training in response to questions from lawmakers as part of his nomination for a high-ranking position at the Pentagon during the Trump administration.

The document containing Bremer's answers, which he provided to The Times, confirmed that four members of the team behind Khashoggi's death received training in 2017 from Tier 1 Group, and two members previously participated in another iteration of the training between October 2014 and January 2015.

In his responses, Bremer said that a review of the Tier 1 Group training in March 2019 "uncovered no wrongdoing by the company and confirmed that the established curriculum training was unrelated to the murder of Jamal Khashoggi."

"The training provided was unrelated to their subsequent heinous acts," Bremer said in his responses, citing The Times report.

The Trump administration ended up withdrawing Bremer's nomination for the top Pentagon position and did not send the document to Congress, so lawmakers never received responses to their questions, according to The Times.

Insider reached out to the State Department for comment.

Khashoggi, a prominent commentator and columnist for The Post, was once within the Royal family's circle, but their opinion of him soured once his work became more critical of the Saudi royal family's dealings.

Khashoggi was killed in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in October 2018; he was dismembered by Saudi agents. Khashoggi went to the consulate to pick up marital documents needed to marry his Turkish fiancée, Hatice Cengiz.

His remains have yet to be found.

In February, the Biden administration declassified a CIA intelligence report, which directly implicated the Saudi Crown Prince in Khashoggi's murder.

"We assess that Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman approved an operation in Istanbul, Turkey, to capture or kill Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi," said the report, provided by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

A UN report issued after Khashoggi's killing seconded the claim, saying that, "Assessments of the recordings by intelligence officers in Turkey and other countries suggest that Mr. Khashoggi could have been injected with a sedative and then suffocated using a plastic bag."

Turkish officials, along with UN and US officials, corroborated that Khashoggi's body was dismembered with a bone saw.

A Turkish court is currently trying 26 Saudi nationals connected to the murder, in absentia, with the next trial date set for July 8. The Saudi government, after a series of excuses, admitted that Khashoggi was killed in a "rogue operation," and placed 11 individuals on trial.

Five people were sentenced to death in December 2019 by the Riyadh Criminal Court for "committing and directly participating in the murder of the victim," and three others were handed prison sentences. Three others were found to be innocent in a trial the UN heavily criticized, and Ahmad Asiri and Saud al-Qahtani, two high ranking officials close to MBS scraped by with no charges.

After the ruling, Cengiz said, "The ruling handed down today in Saudi Arabia again makes a complete mockery of justice."

Khashoggi's murder ignited a global pressure campaign against the Saudi regime, prompting officials in the US and abroad to briefly question their diplomatic relationships with Saudi Arabia.

After President Biden's first meeting with MBS in early March, he reportedly refused to sanction the Saudi regime over Khashoggi's killing.

This story is breaking. Check back for more details.

Read the original article on Business Insider