Saudi Arabia responsible for ‘premediated execution’ of Khashoggi – UN

Riyadh bears responsibility for the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a UN investigator said, calling for a further probe into Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s role in the crime.

Khashoggi was a victim of “a deliberate, premediated execution, an extrajudicial killing for which the state of Saudi Arabia is responsible,” Agnes Callamard, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, said on Wednesday.

She made the remarks following the end of a six-month inquiry into the case. The rapporteur called for an additional probe into the role senior Saudi officials, including Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, may have played in Khashoggi’s murder.

Indeed, this human rights inquiry has shown that there is sufficient credible evidence regarding the responsibility of the Crown Prince demanding further investigation.

Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir rejected Callamard’s allegation on Wednesday, arguing the case had already been investigated by Saudi authorities and insisted it remain within the kingdom’s jurisdiction.

“We categorically reject any attempts to tarnish the leaders of the [Saudi] Kingdom and any attempts to take the case out of the Saudi justice jurisdiction,” al-Jubeir tweeted.

A critic of the Saudi Royal family and Washington Post contributor, Khashoggi was allegedly killed in October after he entered Riyadh’s consulate in Istanbul, Turkey.

Turkish officials claimed that he was murdered by a hit squad dispatched by the Saudis. Riyadh claimed that the journalist had died in a spontaneous fistfight, which erupted inside the building, and denied that the royal family was in any way involved in the incident.

Khashoggi’s demise sparked outrage worldwide and led to the US sanctioning several Saudi officials.

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