UN: Evidence implicates Saudi leaders in murder
Rights expert calls for international inquiry
A United Nations human rights expert cited “credible evidence” Wednesday that high-level officials in Saudi Arabia, including Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, were involved in the death of journalist Jamal Ahmad Khashoggi.
Agnes Callamard, the U.N. special rapporteur leading an independent inquiry, issued a 100-page report on Khashoggi’s death at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in October. She called for a halt to a trial underway in Saudi Arabia, calling the murder an international crime requiring a criminal investigation led by the United Nations. Callamard found no “smoking gun” but said the investigation must focus on those who “have abused, or failed to fulfill, the responsibilities of their positions of authority.”
The Saudi government had no comment. The White House referred questions to the State Department, which had no comment. In the weeks after Khashoggi’s death, President Donald Trump said that the evidence was not clear and that the U.S.-Saudi relationship was too valuable to disrupt.
“It could very well be that the crown prince had knowledge of this tragic event – maybe he did, and maybe he didn’t!” Trump said in November. “The world is a very dangerous place!”
Turkey has been a dogged pursuer of the case, and its relations with Saudi Arabia have been strained.
Khashoggi, 59, was a critic of the Saudi ruling family who wrote for The Washington Post. He was living in selfexile in Turkey when he went to the consulate in search of paperwork related to his planned marriage.
The prince has repeatedly denied
In a 100-page report, Agnes Callamard of the United Nations said she found no “smoking gun” but said the investigation must focus on those who “have abused, or failed to fulfill, the responsibilities of their positions of authority.”
involvement in Khashoggi’s death, and Saudi officials blamed the murder on “rogue” agents and said his body was dismembered in the consulate. His remains haven’t been recovered.
Eleven people are on trial in Saudi Arabia, including five who could face execution if convicted. Callamard said at least one person responsible for planning the attack on Khashoggi has not been charged. The report says the closed-door trial fails to meet international procedural and fairness standards.
“The special rapporteur has determined that there is credible evidence warranting further investigation of high-level Saudi officials’ individual liability, including the crown prince’s,” the report says.
The report includes a timeline of the killing based in part on audiotapes from the consulate released by Turkish authorities. His attackers say they must take Khashoggi back to Saudi Arabia and order him to type a text to his son.
Callamard said that the crime scene was “forensically cleaned” and that Saudi efforts to do so “may amount to obstructing justice.”
The report says intelligence officials believe the journalist may have been injected with a sedative before a plastic bag was placed over his head and he was suffocated.