UN report details grisly murder
‘Credible evidence’ for sanctions against Prince
The gathering on the second floor of the Saudi consulate featured an unlikely collection: a forensic doctor, intelligence and security officers, agents of the crown prince’s office. As they waited for their target to arrive, one asked how they would carry out the body.
Not to worry, the doctor said: “Joints will be separated. It is not a problem,” he assured. “If we take plastic bags and cut it into pieces, it will be finished. We will wrap each of them.”
Their prey, Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, would not leave the consulate in Istanbul alive. And yesterday, more than eight months after his death, a UN special rapporteur revealed
new details of the slaying — part of a report that insisted there was “credible evidence” to warrant further investigation and financial sanctions against Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The report brought the grisly case back into the spotlight just as the prince and his country appeared to be emerging from the scandal. But it contained no smoking gun likely to cause US President Donald Trump to abandon one of his closest allies — and none likely to send the crown prince before a tribunal.
And yet the details of the October 2 killing were so chilling, and now so public, that it’s hard to fathom that there won’t be repercussions.
On the recording, apparently picked up by Turkish listening devices, intelligence officer Maher Mutreb is heard asking whether “the sacrificial animal” had entered the consulate, and a voice responds: “He has arrived.”
Khashoggi is never mentioned by name in the audio.
Two minutes later, Khashoggi enters, hoping to collect a Saudi document that would let him wed his Turkish fiancee. He is led into the consul general’s office and told he has to return to Saudi Arabia. Khashoggi protests: “I notified some people outside. They are waiting for me. A driver is waiting for me.”
“Let’s make it short,” the official tells him, adding: “Send a message to your son.”
“Which son? What should I say to my son?” Khashoggi asks. “You will type a message. Let’s rehearse; show us,” the official says, prodding: “Type it, Mr Jamal. Hurry up.”
Within minutes, the official loses patience and, the rapporteur said, apparently pulls out a syringe. “Are you going to give me drugs?” Khashoggi asks. “We will anesthetise you,” he is told.
Then came the sounds of struggle, “movement and heavy panting,” and finally — according to Turkish intelligence relayed in the report — the sounds of a saw. He is believed to have been dismembered inside the consulate. His remains have never been found.
The narrative is part of a 101-page report from the UN special rapporteur for extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary executions. Agnes Callamard launched her inquiry in January under her mandate from the UN-backed Human Rights Council.
The Saudi minister of state for foreign affairs, Adel al-Jubeir, dismissed the report in a tweet, saying that it contained “nothing new” and was riddled with “clear contradictions and baseless allegations which challenge its credibility.” He added: “The Saudi judiciary is the sole party qualified to deal with the Khashoggi case and works with full independence.” The report comes as damage to the crown prince’s reputation had begun to fade. The Trump Administration has tried to ram through a sale of weapons to Saudi Arabia over objections in Congress. A British petrochemicals company laid out a US$2b investment to build three plants in the kingdom.
Callamard said responsibility for Khashoggi’s killing falls on Saudi Arabia, even if she can’t attribute guilt. There is, she said, “sufficient credible evidence regarding the responsibility of the Crown Prince demanding further investigation.”
She said people directly implicated in the murder reported to him. And she flagged Saudi Arabia’s track record with human rights violations in the past, saying “there was no way the leaders of that state including the crown prince were not aware of those violations.” Callamard urged UN bodies or Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to demand a follow-up criminal investigation.