View all newsletters
Sign up for our free email newsletters

Fighting for quality news media in the digital age.

  1. News
December 5, 2018updated 30 Sep 2022 7:12am

UN human rights chief says international probe into Jamal Khashoggi killing needed

By Charlotte Tobitt

The United Nations’ High Commissioner for Human Rights has said an international investigation is needed to find out who was responsible for the “awful killing” of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Washington Post columnist Khashoggi was killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, on 2 October after he went in to get divorce papers ahead of his upcoming marriage.

UN High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet (pictured) was asked about the need for an international inquiry into the killing at a press conference in Geneva this morning, Reuters has reported.

She said: “I do believe it is really needed in terms of ensuring what really happened and who are the [people] responsible for that awful killing.”

Bachelet has previously said Saudi Arabia and Turkey must fully co-operate in their separate investigations into Khashoggi’s death and that international experts should be called upon to provide impartiality.

“Given the information that high-level officials in Saudi Arabia were apparently involved, and it took place in the Consulate of Saudi Arabia, the bar must be set very high to ensure meaningful accountability and justice for such a shockingly brazen crime against a journalist and government critic,” she said in October.

“For an investigation to be carried out free of any appearance of political considerations, the involvement of international experts, with full access to evidence and witnesses, would be highly desirable.”

Content from our partners
How PA Media is helping newspapers make the digital transition
Publishing on the open web is broken, how generative AI could help fix it
Impress: Regulation, arbitration and complaints resolution

Bachelet’s latest comments came a day after a number of US senators left a briefing with the CIA convinced that the Washington Post columnist’s killing was ordered by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Senator Lindsey Graham said “you have to be wilfully blind” not to come to this conclusion, and that there is “zero chance” the crown prince was not involved in Khashoggi’s death.

President Donald Trump said last month that US intelligence agencies continued to assess the evidence and that “it could very well be that the Crown Prince had knowledge of this tragic event – maybe he did and maybe he didn’t”.

But he added that the US would “remain a steadfast partner of Saudi Arabia to ensure the interests of our country, Israel and all other partners in the region”.

Graham, who pushed for the briefing with CIA director Gina Haspel, also told reporters: “There’s not a smoking gun, there’s a smoking saw,” in a reference to reports that Saudi agents used a bone saw to dismember Khashoggi after his death in the consulate.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker said that if the crown prince was put on trial, he would be found guilty by a jury “in 30 minutes”.

US secretary of state Mike Pompeo and US defence secretary Jim Mattis, who met with Haspel last week, said there was “no direct reporting” and “no smoking gun” connecting the crown prince with the murder.

Picture: Reuters/Denis Balibouse

Topics in this article : ,

Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog

Select and enter your email address Weekly insight into the big strategic issues affecting the future of the news industry. Essential reading for media leaders every Thursday. Your morning brew of news about the world of news from Press Gazette and elsewhere in the media. Sent at around 10am UK time. Our weekly does of strategic insight about the future of news media aimed at US readers. A fortnightly update from the front-line of news and advertising. Aimed at marketers and those involved in the advertising industry.
  • Business owner/co-owner
  • CEO
  • COO
  • CFO
  • CTO
  • Chairperson
  • Non-Exec Director
  • Other C-Suite
  • Managing Director
  • President/Partner
  • Senior Executive/SVP or Corporate VP or equivalent
  • Director or equivalent
  • Group or Senior Manager
  • Head of Department/Function
  • Manager
  • Non-manager
  • Retired
  • Other
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
Thank you

Thanks for subscribing.

Websites in our network