Saudi officials murdered Jamal Kashoggi: UN report

The UN human rights investigator leading the international inquiry into the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi said evidence showed he was a victim of “a brutal and premeditated killing, planned and perpetrated by officials of the state of Saudi Arabia.

Jamal Kashoggi
 
A UN report has found that Washington Post columnist and Saudi regime critic Jamal Kashoggi was murdered by Saudi official and Saudi Arabia “seriously curtailed and undermined” Turkey’s ability to investigate the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a UN expert has said.
 
The UN human rights investigator leading the international inquiry into the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi said evidence showed he was a victim of “a brutal and premeditated killing, planned and perpetrated by officials of the state of Saudi Arabia,” Al Jazeera reported.
 
Special Rapporteur Agnes Callamard said on Thursday her three-member team had access to part of “chilling and gruesome audio material” of the murder obtained by Turkish intelligence agencies while they visited Turkey between 28 January and 3 February.
 
A preliminary report says it was 13 days before Turkey was allowed into the consulate where the journalist was killed.
 
Khashoggi was last seen alive entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on 2 October. The 59-year-old was a prominent critic of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. US intelligence agencies believe Prince Mohammed ordered the assassination.
 
On Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Riyadh was trying to contest an element of a CIA assessment that concluded MBS likely ordered the killing. Riyadh denied his involvement, alleging “rogue” Saudi elements acted on their own accord, the Al Jazeera report said.
 
Saudi Deputy Public Prosecutor Shalaan bin Rajih Shalaan said investigators had concluded an intelligence officer ordered Khashoggi’s murder, applying a lethal injection inside the consulate, BBC reported.

The officer had been tasked with persuading the dissident journalist to return to the Gulf kingdom, he added. Khashoggi’s body was dismembered inside the building and the body parts were then handed over to a local “collaborator” outside the grounds, according to Shalaan.
 
Callamard plans to present a final report to the UN Human Rights Council in June.
 

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