UN investigator 'denied entry' into Saudi 'Khashoggi murder' consulate in Istanbul

UN investigator 'denied entry' into Saudi 'Khashoggi murder' consulate in Istanbul
The UN official leading international probe into the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi has not been granted permission to enter the crime scene inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul
3 min read
29 January, 2019
UN Investigator Agnes Callamard outside Saudi consulate building on Tuesday [Anadolu]
The UN investigator leading an international probe into the murder of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi has not been granted permission to enter the crime scene inside the Saudi consulate building in Istanbul.

Instead, Special Rapporteur Agnes Callamard and her team of experts toured around the consulate's neighbourhood on Tuesday without being able to enter the building, telling reporters they were waiting for permission from Saudi officials.

Speaking outside the consulate, Callamard said she had requested access to the premises from Riyadh and to meet Saudi authorities both in Turkey and in the kingdom.

"To be fair the request to them has come quite late, so we need to give them a bit more time to process our request," she said.

"We are respectfully calling on the authorities to give us access at some stage while we are here. We just wanted to have a sense of it,” she told reporters."

The expert on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary killing said she would present her report in June to the UN's Human Rights Council.

Callamard met with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Monday. The team is on a week-long visit to Turkey and is expected to meet with Istanbul's chief prosecutor later on Tuesday.

The CIA believe Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered an operation to kill Khashoggi and say his body was dismembered and removed to a location still publicly unknown.

Where is Khashoggi's body?

Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist who wrote critically about the Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, was killed inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on 2 October, likely at the orders of the young but powerful royal.

The CIA believe Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered an operation to kill Khashoggi and say his body was dismembered and removed to a location still publicly unknown.

His remains have not been found.

Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, said on Monday that Callamard is investigating what evidence there is pointing to Prince Mohammed's responsibility.

He also called for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to share its intercepted recordings of the crime, according to Reuters.

Riyadh denies that the prince had any involvement. Instead it claims the killing a "rogue" operation by Saudi operatives, but few believed the excuse and tipped the kingdom into one of its worst diplomatic crises in recent times.

Earlier this month a trial of 11 accused in the murder opened in Saudi Arabia with the attorney general seeking the death penalty for five defendants.

The UN Human Rights Office said that the trial taking place in Saudi Arabia into the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi was "not sufficient".

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