UN investigator repeats call for international probe into murder of Khashoggi

“The evidence gathered by the inquiry suggests that the killing of Mr Khashoggi constituted an extrajudicial execution, and enforced disappearance, and possibly an act of torture, for which the State of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is responsible.

All members of the global community - the United Nations included - should do more to protect human rights defenders and dissidents, Special Rapporteur Agnès Callamard said on Wednesday, as she repeated her call for an international probe into the murder of Saudi journalist, Jamal Khashoggi.

Presenting her report into the Saudi dissident's killing last October in Istanbul, the UN-appointed independent rights expert told the Human Rights Council in Geneva that there was credible evidence supporting an additional investigation into the role of high officials in the kingdom, including Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

"The evidence gathered by the inquiry suggests that the killing of Mr Khashoggi constituted an extrajudicial execution, and enforced disappearance, and possibly an act of torture, for which the State of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is responsible. There are numerous theories as to the circumstances of Mr Khashoggi's death, but none leads other than to the responsibility of the State."

Highlighting that Mr Khashoggi's premeditated execution reflected an increasingly global phenomenon, the Special Rapporteur insisted that if the international community ignored this fundamental rights abuse, it risked threatening all other human rights.

In response to her claims, Abdulaziz Alwasil, Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the UN in Geneva, said that she had not acted within the terms of her mandate, and neither had she carried out her work professionally.