By Muslim Mirror Desk
New Delhi : In a news that has rolled eyeballs especially in the Middle East, there is “credible evidence” linking Saudi Arabia’s crown prince to the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi last October, an independent UN rights expert said Wednesday, calling for an international investigation.
“There is credible evidence that Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and other high-level officials are ‘individually’ liable for the killing of Jamal Khashoggi,” the UN expert said.
In an excoriating 100-page analysis published on Wednesday of what happened to Khashoggi last October, Agnes Callamard, the UN’s special rapporteur, says the death of the journalist was “an international crime”.
“It is the conclusion of the special rapporteur that Mr Khashoggi has been the victim of a deliberate, premeditated execution, an extrajudicial killing for which the state of Saudi Arabia is responsible under international human rights law.”
There was no immediate reaction from Riyadh which was sent the 100-page report in advance.
Khashoggi’s remains have not been found but Callamard has said that she and her team of forensic and legal experts had access to a part of “chilling and gruesome audio materials” of his death obtained by the Turkish intelligence agency.
Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributor and critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was murdered at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2.
Riyadh initially said it had no knowledge of his fate, but later blamed the murder on rogue agents.