A US organisation has started publishing official documents dealing with the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October last year.

The Open Society Justice Initiative explained via its website that it has obtained the documents under the US Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

This occurred after US judge Paul A. Engelmayer last month ordered the administration of US President Donald Trump to hand over all documents related to the crime. The judge stated this must be done at a rate of 5,000 pages per month, out of the 300,000 pages held by the State and Defence Departments, the Associated Press reported.

READ: Senate bill seeks to punish Khashoggi’s killers

Engelmayer stressed the importance of the issue and the need to tackle it urgently, noting that Khashoggi’s death was “front-page news” when the FOIA request was made in December, but the relevant agencies did not respond until April.

“In the months since, Khashoggi’s disappearance, and the facts or allegations regarding his killing in Saudi custody, have continued to be a matter of intense interest among the public, legislators, other policymakers and journalists,” the judge wrote.