Report released in Saudi killing
U.N. investigator calls for a closer look at crown prince
GENEVA — An independent U.N. report into the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi said Wednesday that there is “credible evidence” to warrant further investigation into the possible role of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and it suggested sanctions on his personal assets.
The inquiry could further harden opinion against the crown prince in Washington and other Western capitals, where critics say an operation of this magnitude would have required the powerful prince’s knowledge.
Agnes Callamard, the special rapporteur for extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary executions, said responsibility for Khashoggi’s killing falls on Saudi Arabia.
“There has been no demonstration that the state itself of Saudi Arabia has accepted its responsibility for the killing,” she told reporters after the release of her 101-page report.
Khashoggi was killed, and believed to have been dismembered, inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul by Saudi agents on Oct. 2. His remains have never been found.
The 33-year-old Saudi prince, who continues to have the support of his father, King Salman, denies any involvement in the killing. President Donald Trump has defended U.S.-Saudi ties in the face of an international outcry over the slaying.
Saudi Arabia initially offered shifting accounts about Khashoggi’s disappearance, but as pressure mounted, the kingdom eventually settled on the explanation that he was killed by rogue officials in a brawl inside the consulate in Turkey.
But the U.N. report said it is hard to accept the theory that the leader of a 15-man Saudi team sent to the consulate at the time of Khashoggi’s visit had planned the murder without any authorization from superiors in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.
The presence of a pathologist on the Saudi team was relevant in determining the original intent of the operation, she said, adding that an investigation of the crown prince is needed because the people directly implicated in the murder reported to him.
The report added there was “no reason why sanctions should not be applied against the Crown Prince and his personal assets” — noting that sanctions on regimes have been put in place in the past before guilt was determined.
Callamard said an investigation should look into how much the crown prince knew, whether he had a direct or indirect role, and whether he could have stopped the killing.
The U.N. report identified by name 15 suspects, 11 of whom are on trial in Saudi Arabia. Five of them may face execution.
Callamard said that trial should be suspended because it fails to meet procedural standards. She noted that the trial is being held privately, and at least one of those suspected as responsible in the planning and organizing of the killing has not been charged. While some diplomats have been allowed to attend some of the hearings, they were barred from disclosing their observations.
The U.N. report offered a minute-by-minute account of the events surrounding the killing based on audio shared by Turkish authorities taken from inside the Saudi Consulate, including what Turkish intelligence identified as sounds of a saw that could have been used to dismember Khashoggi’s body.
According to Callamard’s account of the recordings, which she heard translated from Arabic, Saudi agents could be heard discussing how to dismember and transport a body minutes before Khashoggi’s arrival at the consulate on Oct. 2.
A voice identified as a pathologist expresses hope that it will be easy, saying: “Joints will be separated. It is not a problem. The body is heavy. First time I cut on the ground. If we take plastic bags and cut it into pieces, it will be finished.”
Khashoggi — who was never mentioned by name in the audio — was visiting the consulate to pick up papers to marry his Turkish fiancee, who waited for him outside the consulate before raising the alarm after he failed to emerge after several hours.
On arrival, he was told he would be forcibly returned to Saudi Arabia.
When asked to take off his jacket, Khashoggi appeared to have seen a syringe and asked whether he was going to be drugged, the report said.
He was told he would be given anesthesia, and sounds of struggle followed. Agents were heard saying: “Did he sleep?” and “Keep pushing.”
Before his death, Khashoggi wrote columns in The Washington Post criticizing the crown prince’s crackdown on freedom of thought and expression, though he also commended the prince for social changes implemented in Saudi Arabia. He wrote his columns after leaving Saudi Arabia to avoid being swept up in the crackdown.