UN: Saudis held secret hearing on Khashoggi

GENEVA: Saudi Arabia quietly held a second court hearing for 11 people facing charges over the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, an independent UN human rights expert said, criticising the kingdom for its lack of transparency in the proceedings over the grisly slaying.

Agnes Callamard, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, said she learned of the hearing during her first visit to Turkey last week to investigate the murder. Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist who wrote critically about Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was killed and dismembered inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul last October.

The brutal killing - described by Turkish and US officials as an elaborate plot - has drawn an international outcry about press freedom and Saudi government tactics to quell criticism.

Turkey, which is carrying out its own investigation into Kha- shoggi’s murder, has been frustrated by what Ankara says is a lack of cooperation by Riyadh. It has also called for an international inquiry.

Khashoggi had gone to the consulate on October 2 to obtain documents for his upcoming wedding to his Turkish fiancee.

After denying for weeks that Khashoggi was killed in the consulate, Saudi Arabia last year indicted 11 people in the killing, including members from the crown prince’s entourage, and is seeking the death penalty against five of them.

Callamard told AP over the phone on Thursday that the second hearing in Saudi Arabia took place on Jan. 31. She criticised the fact that there is “insufficient public attention placed on the proceedings” and that the media are not present at the hearings

Trials in Saudi Arabia can be shrouded in secrecy, she noted, insisting that Khashoggi case should be open to public scrutiny.

The revelation of a second hearing highlights the closeddoor nature of trials in Saudi Arabia.