Admin l Wednesday, June 19, 2019
NEW YORK, United States – Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman is on fire following the recommendation by a United Nations inquiry that found him culpable in the murder of Saudi journalist, Jamal Khashoggi.
Jamal Khashoggi was murdered October 2, 2018 in the most horrifying manner inside Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, when he visited to perfect marriage to his fiance.
In the report released today by United Nations, UN’s ex-trajudicial executions investigator Agnes Callamard said Khashoggi’s death “constituted an extrajudicial killing for which the State of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is responsible”.
According to the report, Khashoggi’s murder constituted a violation of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations and of the prohibition against the extra-territorial use of force in time of peace (customary law and UN Charter).
In killing a journalist, the report noted, that the State of Saudi Arabia committed an act inconsistent with a core tenet of the United Nations, which is the protection of freedom of expression.
“As such, it can be credibly argued that it used force extra-territorially in a manner “inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations. Further, the circumstances of the killing of Mr. Khashoggi may constitute an act of torture under the terms of the Convention Against Torture, ratified by Saudi Arabia”.
Till date Jamal Kashoggi’s body is yet to be found. He was alleged to have been injected with nerve agent and his body dismembered and taken out of the Saudi Consulate.
According to the UN’s Special Rapporteur, there is credible evidence, warranting further investigation of high-level Saudi Official’s individual liability, including the Crown Prince’s.
She warned against a disproportionate emphasis on identifying who ordered the crime, pointing out that the search for justice and accountability is not singularly dependent on finding a smoking gun and the person holding it.
The search is also, if not primarily, about identifying those who, in the context of the commission of a violation, have abused, or failed to fulfill, the responsibilities of their positions of authority.
