A UN investigator found "credible evidence" that Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was behind the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and urged sanctions against the kingdom's de facto ruler until he comes clean about his role in the killing of his fellow citizen.
The 101-page report assembled by human rights expert Agnes Callamard after a months-long probe commissioned by the UN High Commission for Human Rights concluded that Khashoggi "has been the victim of a deliberate, premeditated execution, an extrajudicial killing for which the state Saudi Arabia is responsible under international human rights law," the Independent reported.
It includes new details about the final days and moments of Khashoggi's life, but does not reveal the still-unknown whereabouts of his body.
Callamard urges a probe targeting Prince Mohammed. "In view of the credible evidence into the responsibilities of the Crown Prince for his murder, such sanctions ought also to include the Crown Prince and his personal assets abroad, until and unless evidence is provided and corroborated that he carries no responsibilities for this execution," the report reads.
"Evidence points to the 15-person mission to execute Mr Khashoggi requiring significant government coordination, resources and finances," the report says. "While the Saudi government claims that these resources were put in place by Ahmed Asiri, every expert consulted finds it inconceivable that an operation of this scale could be implemented without the Crown Prince being aware, at a minimum, that some sort of mission of a criminal nature, directed at Mr Khashoggi, was being launched."
Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist who wrote critically about bin Salman, was killed and dismembered inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on October 2. According to the report, Khashoggi entered the consulate at 13:15. At 13:37, the sound of a saw could be heard.
The Saudi regime has refused to cooperate with either Turkish or international investigators examining the death of Khashoggi, insisting that it try the suspects, who fled Turkey after murdering the Washington resident, chopping his body into pieces, and removing it to a still-unknown location. Callamard's report says Saudi Arabia rejected a request to visit the country to pursue her probe.
