Credit: Wikipedia  Commons /  Slain  dissident  journalist Jamal Khashoggi 

By Gary Raynaldo   /  DIPLOMATIC  TIMES

UNITED NATIONS  –   In a damning report,  a UN-appointed independent investigator said on Wednesday that responsibility for the killing of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi lies with “high-level officials” of the monarchy. The UN investigator also renewed a call for “full State accountability for the  horrific crime.  According  to UN Special Rapporteur Agnès Callamard, in the days leading up to his execution, the journalist and other dissidents were “being sought” by Saudi authorities, so that “when the opportunity arose…Saudi high-level officials planned, oversaw and/or endorsed the mission”. 

Callamard, UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions,  suggests that the crime was a “premeditated extrajudicial execution”.  

“The evidence suggests that the murder was premeditated and that the direction from superiors was to kill Mr. Khashoggi, at the very least if he would not agree to return,” her report states, suggesting that such an operation “was the result of elaborate planning involving extensive coordination and significant human and financial resources.”

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

Callamard’s  report also determines that there was “credible evidence” that warrants further investigation of high-level Saudi officials’ liability, including that of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. 

Saudi Arabia Undermined Khashoggi Murder Probe: U.N. Expert

Credit:  UN Photo/Loey Felipe  /    Agnes Callamard, UN Special Rapporteur on Extra-Judicial summary or arbitrary Executions.

Saudi journalist Jamal #Khashoggi was the victim of a premeditated extrajudicial execution, for which the State of #SaudiArabia is responsible – report published today by @AgnesCallamard where she cites 6 violations of international law.

Learn more: https://t.co/MpsfsJRF6c pic.twitter.com/zykNt6wJLs

— UN Special Procedures (@UN_SPExperts) June 19, 2019

Saudi Arabia seriously curtailed and undermined Turkey’s investigation into the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a U.N. human rights expert said in a report released in February.  At the  time, U.N. Special Rapporteur  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.

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.

UN Secretary‑General to give full consideration to recommendations regarding protection of journalists: Spokesman 

Meanwhile, in response to the Khashoggi report, UN Secretary-General António Guterres will give full consideration to the recommendations regarding the protection of journalists, Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, said Wednesday at a press briefing at UN world headquarters in New York.

“As for the actual killing of Jamal Khashoggi, the Secretary‑General believes that this was a horrendous crime that shocked people around the world.  Since the first reports surfaced, he has clearly condemned it and called for a prompt, thorough and transparent investigation and accountability for those responsible with full respect [for] due process.  This remains his position.”

-Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

Part of the UN Khashoggi report stated that “the Secretary‑General himself should be able to establish an international follow‑up criminal investigation without any trigger by a State.”  When asked if the Secretary‑General will act on this recommendation, Spokesman Dujarric said:    “The Secretary‑General, as we’ve been saying, does not have the power or the authority to launch criminal investigations without a mandate from a competent intergovernmental body.  Power and authority to do that lies with Member States.  If a full and effective criminal investigation is not conducted by Member States, the only way to effectively pursue an investigation, requiring the cooperation of relevant Member States, would be through a resolution of the Security Council, under the appropriate Charter provisions.  And all Member States should cooperate with those efforts.”