UN official calls verdict in Jamal Khashoggi killing ‘mockery of justice’

A United Nations official lashed out at Saudi Arabia after a court convicted eight people in the brutal killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi but exonerated Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s inner circle. Agnes Callamard, UN Special Rapporteur on Extra-Judicial Executions, said that the hitmen were sentenced to death while the masterminds were barely touched by the investigation and the trial. “That is the antithesis of Justice. It is a mockery,” she tweeted.

Callamard, in a series of tweets, explained how the verdict was a mockery of justice. She said that the 18 Saudi officials were present in their consulate in Istanbul for more than 10 days and cleaned up the crime scene. She called it obstruction of justice and a violation of the Minnesota Protocol for the investigation of arbitrary killings.

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'Chain of command'

The UN official further said that the trial never considered the responsibilities of the State when the killing of Khashoggi was nothing but extrajudicial execution under international human rights law. She said that the agencies failed to investigate “the chain of command to identify the masterminds, as well as those who incited, allowed or turned a blind eye to the murder such as the Crown Prince.”

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In June 2019, Callamard published a report saying Jamal Khashoggi was the victim of a premeditated extrajudicial execution, for which the State of Saudi Arabia was responsible. The report said that the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), the Security Council or the UN Secretary-General should demand a follow-up criminal investigation into Khashoggi’s killing. She had also pointed to previous violations of international law by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia including the attempted abduction and ill-treatment of the elected Prime Minister.

“The secrecy attached to both the investigation and the prosecution also violates the right to know and the right to truth of the international community, his family, friends, colleagues and many around the world who also have a right to know what happened to Mr. Khashoggi,” read the UN report which was dismissed by Riyadh.

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