Dr. Agnès Callamard, Special Rapporteur to the United Nations Human Rights Council, released her report, “Annex to the Report of the Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions: Investigation into the Unlawful Death of Mr. Jamal Khashoggi*” on June 19, 2019. Mr. Kashoggi, a Saudi citizen who reported for the Washington Post, was tortured and killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, in October 2018. The report calls the murder an international crime.

Dr. Callamard found that “both the investigations conducted by Saudi Arabia and Turkey failed to meet international standards regarding the investigation into unlawful deaths.”

In an interview with UN News, Dr. Callamard recounted details of her investigation in Turkey into the circumstances of Mr. Kashoggi’s death. Eleven individuals have been indicted and tried behind closed doors in Saudi Arabia, but Dr. Callamard argued that the crime committed against Mr. Khashoggi involved the Kingdom, calling it “an arbitrary and extrajudicial execution for which the State of Saudi Arabia is responsible.”

Additional reading:

• U.N. Investigator Calls for Probe of Saudi Officials in Kashoggi Killing, Carol Morello & Karim Fahim, The Washington Post, June 19, 2019.
• U.N. Expert Calls for International Investigation Into Kashoggi Killing, Nick Cumming-Bruce, The New York Times, June 26, 2019.
• Jamal Kashoggi, Committee to Protect Journalists, Oct. 2, 2018.