U.N. expert: Saudis undermined probe of Khashoggi’s death
Final report to be presented in June
GENEVA — A U.N. human rights expert said Thursday that Saudi Arabia undermined Turkey’s efforts to investigate the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which she described as a “brutal and premeditated killing” planned and carried out by Saudi officials.
Agnes Callamard, the U.N. special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, made her assessment Thursday after visiting Turkey.
Mr. Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist who wrote critically about Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was killed Oct. 2 inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. His remains have not been found.
During a trip to Turkey Jan. 28-Feb. 3, Ms. Callamard’s team met with the foreign and justice ministers, the country’s intelligence chief and the leading prosecutor in the case.
Ms. Callamard concluded that “Turkey’s efforts to apply prompt, effective and thorough, independent and impartial, and transparent investigations — in line with international law — had been seriously curtailed and undermined by Saudi Arabia,” the U.N. human rights office in Geneva said in a statement.
“Woefully inadequate time and access was granted to Turkish investigators to conduct a professional and effective crime-scene examination and search required by international standards for investigation,” Ms. Callamard said.
Evidence collected during the trip indicates “that Mr. Khashoggi was the victim of a brutal and premeditated killing, planned and perpetrated by officials of the State of Saudi Arabia,” she said. She did not point to any specific official.
Ms. Callamard’s team was given access to parts of the audio material obtained by Turkish intelligence on Mr. Khashoggi’s killing but was “not able to undertake a deep technical examination of this material” and didn’t have an opportunity to authenticate it independently. The statement said the team wasn’t able to carry out some other inquiries, such as meeting forensic and crime scene experts involved, “largely, but not only, due to time constraints.”
Ms. Callamard plans to present her final report to the U.N. Human Rights Council in June.
Turkish officials have been frustrated by what they say is a lack of cooperation by Saudi Arabia officials and have called for an international inquiry.
After denying Mr. Khashoggi was killed in the consulate for several weeks, Saudi Arabia indicted 11 people in the killing and is seeking the death penalty against five of them.
Ms. Callamard’s statements Thursday came as current and former U.S. and foreign officials with direct knowledge of intelligence reports said the crown prince told a top aide in 2017 that he would use “a bullet” on Mr. Khashoggi if the journalist did not return to the kingdom and end his criticism of the Saudi government.
The conversation, intercepted by U.S. intelligence agencies, was seen as the most detailed evidence to date that the crown prince considered killing Mr. Khashoggi long before a team of Saudi operatives strangled him inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul and dismembered his body.
The Saudi government has denied that the crown prince played any role in the killing, and President Donald Trump has publicly shown little interest in trying to determine who was responsible. Mohammed, the next in line to the Saudi throne behind his ailing father, King Salman, has become the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia and a close ally of the Trump White House — especially Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser.