A Turkish court on Thursday ruled to suspend the trial in absentia of 26 Saudis accused in the gruesome killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi and for the case to be transferred to Saudi Arabia, according to the Associated Press.

Kashoggi, a United States resident who wrote critically about Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was killed on October 2, 2018, at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, where he had gone for an appointment to collect documents required for him to marry his Turkish fiancee, Hatice Cengiz. He never emerged from the building.

Turkish officials had alleged that Khashoggi was killed and then dismembered with a bone saw inside the consulate by a team of Saudi agents sent to Istanbul.

The Istanbul court's decision comes despite warnings from human rights groups that turning the case over to the kingdom would lead to a cover up of the killing which has cast suspicion on the crown prince. It also comes as Turkey, which is in the throes of a deep economic downturn, has been trying to repair its troubled relationship with Saudi Arabia and an array of other countries in its region.

“While IPI has long criticised Turkey’s domestic crackdown on the press, its commitment to pursuing justice for Khashoggi was bold and commendable. This decision is a deeply regrettable betrayal of that commitment,” said the International Press Institute in a statement.

Some media reports have claimed that Riyadh has made improved relations conditional on Turkey dropping the case against the Saudis. The move would pave the way to a resolution of tensions between the two regional heavyweights since the 2011 Arab Spring, including Turkey's support to movements like the Muslim Brotherhood. Turkey also sided with Qatar in a diplomatic dispute that saw Doha boycotted by Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.