Credit: wikipedia  commons / Jamal Khashoggi

By Gary Raynaldo   DIPLOMATIC TIMES

Saudi Arabia seriously curtailed and undermined Turkey’s investigation into the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a U.N. human rights expert said in preliminary report released Thursday.  U.N. Special Rapporteur Agnes Callamard said the evidence showed he was a victim of “a brutal and premeditated killing, planned and perpetrated by officials of the state of Saudi Arabia”.   She said  Khashoggi’s murder was the gravest violation of the most fundamental of all rights,  ‘the right to life’.   Callamard visited Turkey from January 28 to February 2019 as part of an independent Human Rights Inquiry into the killing of Khashoggi in Instanbul.  Khashoggi was last seen entering Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018.  His body has never been found.  Khashoggi was a prominent journalist employed by the Washington Post and a staunch critic of the Kingdom  of Saudi Arabia.  Callamard stated in her report that as a human rights inquiry into the killing of Khashoggi,  the methodology demands necessarily that the U.N. focus on the steps taken to date by the relevant state authorities in both Turkey and Saudi Arabia.  Callamard stated that International Law requires that investigations be: (i) prompt; (ii) effective and thorough; (iii) independent and impartial; and (iv) transparent.

“The Turkish authorities’ compliance with these standards was seriously curtailed and undermined by Saudi Arabia’s unwillingness, for some 13 days, to allow Turkish investigators access to the crime scenes.”

U.N. Special Rapporteur Agnes Callamard

Callamard also stated in her report that evidence made available to her team thus far indicates that prior to October 15, up to four attempts were made to eliminate forensic evidence from the scene in Istanbul.

Credit: Wikipedia:  Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia denied that any officials of the Kingdom had any involvement in Khashoggi’s murder, and blamed it on “rogue”  elements who acted on their own.   According to the Washington Post, the CIA last November concluded that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the assassination of Khashoggi in Istanbul, contradicting the Saudi government’s claims that he was not involved in the killing.

Callamard also stated that although there are now 11 individuals facing trial in Saudi Arabia for the murder of Khashoggi, the proceedings to date raise major concerns, including with regard to the lack of public information about the identity of those on trial, the transparency and fairness of the proceedings.

International Legal Implications:  Diplomatic Immunity 

Callamard further observed that Khashoggi’s killing generates complex and significant questions of state sovereignty and international law.  “Under international law, the murder violated law and core rules of international relations, including the requirements for lawful use of diplomatic missions. As a human rights scholar put it, ‘Those rules, developed to protect states from one another’s misdeeds, are central to the stability of the state system.'”  Callamard also observed that:

“Critically, the circumstances of the killing of Mr. Khashoggi, and the response by the Saudi State representative in its aftermath may be described as “immunity for impunity.”  Yet, guarantees of immunity were never intended to facilitate the commission of a crime and exonerate its authors of their criminal responsibility or to conceal a violation of the right to life. “

Killing Of Khashoggi Raises Important Questions Regarding Role of  “Intelligence”  Evidence

Callamard’s report also noted that surveillance over the content of diplomatic communication or documents by the host State, is prohibited under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (VCCR).  However, she “welcomed” the Turkish Government’s transparency in making public the fact of its recording of Saudi communication and surveillance of the Saudi consulate and providing her team access to the content of some of its recordings.

“Disclosing material of this nature raises sensitive issues related to the practices, methodologies, sources and extent of intelligence-gathering over foreign diplomatic presences worldwide. The role of intelligence-gathered evidence in facilitating accountability for a human rights violation has a range of implications in courts around the world.”

Callamard said she plans to present a final report to the U.N. Human Rights Council in June.