Saudi Khashoggi investigation fails to examine who ordered the hit - UN

An official Saudi investigation into the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents has failed to examine who may have ordered the killing, a UN special rapporteur said on Wednesday.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and other senior officials should be investigated over the murder given the credible evidence against them, said Agnes Callamard, the senior official on extrajudicial executions.

"The investigation carried out by the Saudi authorities has failed to address the chain of command," Callamard told the UN Human Rights Council.

Callamard, an academic and longtime human rights advocate, took up broader themes after detailing her report to journalists last week, decrying a trend of the targeting of journalists and others who speak truth to power.

"The enquiry, which was a human rights enquiry, not a criminal investigation, has found credible evidence, warranting further investigation, of high-level Saudi officials' individual liability, including that of the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia and his key adviser (Saud) Qahtani," she told the UN Human Rights Council.

Saudi officials have long denied suspicions in the CIA and some Western countries that the crown prince ordered the killing in October.

In her report, issued this month, she called for launching an international criminal investigation and urged states to widen sanctions to include the crown prince and his assets abroad, unless the man seen by many as the de facto Saudi ruler can prove no responsibility.

"The Special Rapporteur found credible evidence pointing to the crime scenes having been thoroughly, even forensically, cleaned. These indicate that the Saudi investigation was not conducted in good faith, and that it may amount to obstructing justice," Callamard's report said.

'S Arabia took no steps to investigate killing'

The fiancee of slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi on Tuesday criticised Saudi Arabia for not taking any steps to shed light on his killing.

Speaking to reporters after appearing at a meeting with the UN's top human rights body, Hatice Cengiz, a Turkish citizen, said pressure should be put on Saudis to release more information about Khashoggi's killing to the international public.
She insisted the Saudi officials should be punished.

Cengiz added that as nobody was accountable for her fiance's grisly slaying, it "poses a threat to all countries in the world."

"Who can guarantee that a similar incident won't happen in two years, three years, four years, somewhere else in the world, in another diplomatic mission?" she added.

Cengiz said Saudi Arabia had not once contacted her because it "meant incriminating themselves once again."

Cengiz also said that the probe conducted by Saudi Arabia on the murder had "no legitimacy" after the publication of the UN report about the murder.

"If it is viewed from this angle, there is no legitimacy left for the investigation being carried out in Saudi Arabia. Therefore, the necessity for an international investigation arises again," Cengiz stressed.

Khashoggi was killed and dismembered by a group of Saudi operatives shortly after he entered the country's consulate in Istanbul on October 2 last year.

Riyadh offered various, conflicting narratives to explain his disappearance before acknowledging he was murdered in the diplomatic building while seeking to shift blame for his death on a botched rendition operation being carried out by rogue agents.

Khashoggi's body has not been recovered, and the Kingdom has remained silent on its whereabouts.