UN releases report on Khashoggi case

GENEVA - A UN rights investigator said in a report on Wednesday that Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was the victim of premeditated extrajudicial execution, for which Saudi Arabia is responsible, while Riyadh rejected the report as "unfounded".

UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Agnes Callamard, published the report following a six-month investigation into the killing in October 2018 of Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

"The circumstances of Mr Khashoggi's death have led to numerous theories and allegations, but none alters the responsibility of the Saudi Arabia State," the report read.

The report published excerpts of what it calls conversations inside the consulate shortly before Khashoggi arrived there and during his final moments.

A few minutes before Khashoggi arrived, Salah al-Tubaigy, a Saudi Interior Ministry forensics doctor who would dismember the body, said he hoped his job would "be easy", according to the report.

Tubaiqy continued: "Joints will be separated. It is not a problem. The body is heavy. First time I cut on the ground. If we take plastic bags and cut it into pieces, it will be finished. We will wrap each of them."

The material relies on recordings and forensic work by Turkish investigators and information from the trials of the suspects in Saudi Arabia, the UN report said.

Assessments of the recordings by intelligence officers in Turkey and elsewhere suggested Khashoggi may have been injected with a sedative and then suffocated, the report said.

Callamard also determined that there was credible evidence, warranting further investigation of high-level Saudi officials' liability, including that of the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

"It (the killing) was overseen, planned, and endorsed by high-level officials. It was premeditated," said the report.

Callamard also called on further investigations by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the FBI.

Adel al-Jubeir, Saudi minister of state for foreign affairs, dismissed the report in a tweet as "unfounded", saying that it was a "non-binding" report which contained "nothing new".

"The report... contains clear contradictions and unfounded allegations, casting doubt on its credibility."

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Wednesday that Ankara strongly supports the UN's call to probe into the Saudi crown prince and other senior officials over Khashoggi case.

"Turkey strongly endorses UN Rapporteur Agnes Callamard's recommendations for elucidating Khashoggi's murder and holding those responsible accountable," Cavusoglu said on his Twitter account.

Khashoggi was last seen at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct 2, 2018.

Xinhua - Reuters - AFP

(China Daily 06/21/2019 page12)