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PICTURED: U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo meeting with Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman who according to the UN is among those responsible for the killing of Khashoggi.
Breaking: The UN special investigator, Agnes Callamard, has concluded in a report that “Mr. Khashoggi’s killing constituted an extrajudicial killing for which the state and kingdom of Saudi Arabia is responsible”.
The “Special Rapporteur,” as Callamard is referred to, has determined there is credible evidence which warrants the continued investigation of high-level Saudi officials’ individual liability, particularly the Crown Prince, Mohammad bin Salman.
“By appointment, on 2 October 2018,” the report begins, “Mr. Khashoggi entered the Consulate of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in Istanbul, to obtain papers he needed to pave the way for his marriage to his fiancée, Ms Hatice Cengiz. She waited outside the Consulate for him to return, but brutally slain within the Consulate, he never would; the bitter reality of his murder made all the more poignant by the joyous purpose for which he entered the Consulate in the first place”.
The Special Rapporteur also found evidence that the crime scene had been thoroughly, even “forensically” cleaned, and suggests that the Saudi investigation into the killing was both “not done in good faith, and constitutes obstruction of justice”.
“The ongoing trial in Saudi Arabia of 11 suspects in the killing of Mr. Khashoggi, while an important step towards accountability, fails to meet procedural and substantive standards. The trial is held behind closed doors; the identity of those charged has not been released nor is the identity of those facing death penalty,” she said.
Callamard goes on to say that Khashoggi’s killing represents two disturbing trends. The extrajudicial use of force by governments enacting punishments without fair trial across borders, and the general increase in the persecution of journalists across the globe.
On October 13, President Trump vowed “severe punishment” for Saudi Arabia if it was found responsible for Mr. Khashoggi’s death, but he rejected all ideas of sanctions on weapons deals. In fact, Trump, along with Sec. of State Mike Pompeo announced In May that they would circumvent congressional review in order to sell $8 billion in weapons to Saudi Arabia.
bin Salman, the crown prince heavily linked in the report to Khashoggi’s death, has also been in charge of the disastrous war in Yemen, and hopefully, this new information will be cause for sterner actions towards the Sunni monarchy.
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