Still Missing Turkey - Jamal Khashoggi, 59, Washington Post columnist, Istanbul, 3 Oct 2018

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U.N. Execution Expert Will Investigate Khashoggi Killing

DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
17 hrs ago
An expert from the United Nations human rights office will look into the death of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi dissident and Washington Post columnist killed in October by Saudi agents, the agency said on Friday.

Agnès Callamard, the special rapporteur for extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, will lead the inquiry into the killing of Mr. Khashoggi at Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul and will report her findings in June, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights announced.

She “will review and evaluate, from a human rights perspective, the circumstances surrounding the killing of Khashoggi,” the office said in a statement, and “will assess the steps taken by governments to address and respond to the killing, and the nature and extent of states’ and individuals’ responsibilities for the killing.”

As special rapporteur, Ms. Callamard’s role is to examine any allegations of extrajudicial executions on her own authority, without specific further authorization from the human rights commissioner’s office or any other United Nations body.

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Her inquiry does not amount to a formal, independent investigation of the kind the United Nations has ordered in the past, notably into the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan in 2007. But it is a first step that might lead to a some fuller United Nations examination of the case.

It was not clear whether the announcement would satisfy Turkey, which has called on the United Nations to launch a full independent, international investigation in the Khashoggi case.

Ms. Callamard’s investigation will begin with a trip next week to Turkey, aided by Helena Kennedy, a British lawyer, member of the House of Lords and former official at the University of Oxford; and Duarte Nuno Vieira, a leading expert in forensic medicine and professor of medicine at the University of Coimbra in Portugal.
 
Added to post above:

"American intelligence agencies have concluded that Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s 33-year-old crown prince and de facto ruler, personally ordered the assassination of Mr. Khashoggi, a Virginia resident who was killed and dismembered, and whose remains Turkish investigators have yet to find. After a briefing on the issue by the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, the Senate passed a resolution publicly holding the crown prince responsible.

Saudi Arabia has said it is conducting its own investigation into the killing, and Saudi officials have said their initial inquiry has indicated that the leader of a team of agents on the ground in Istanbul — not the crown prince — decided to kill Mr. Khashoggi. The kingdom has said it has arrested 21 people in connection with the killing and this month it reportedly began prosecuting 11 of them. The kingdom has said it is seeking the death penalty for five of those defendants but has not named any of them.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey has charged that the killing was ordered at the highest levels of the Saudi royal court, arguing that Saudi judges or other officials subordinate to the court cannot credibly determine who was responsible. Mr. Erdogan is a rival of Prince Mohammed and a friend of Mr. Khashoggi, and Turkish officials have sought to maximize the international attention on the killing in an apparent attempt to stigmatize or weaken the prince.

Ms. Callamard told Reuters she would begin her investigation next week with a five-day trip to Turkey. Among other things, she said, she would examine “the nature and the extent of states’ and individuals’ responsibilities for the killing,” according to Reuters."
 

Jamal Khashoggi latest: UN inquiry says journalist's murder was 'brutal, premeditated and planned by Saudi officials'


Jacob Jarvis
27 mins ago
The murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi was "a brutal and premeditated killing" which was planned by Saudi officials, a UN inquiry has stated.

It comes after the Washington Post correspondent's death inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last October.

A further allegation from the inquiry is that Saudi Arabia "seriously undermined" Turkey's efforts to investigate the murder.

Agnes Callamard, the U.N. special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, made her assessment on Thursday after visiting Turkey.

She plans to present a final report to the UN Human Rights Council in June.

A statement from Ms Callamard said: "Woefully inadequate time and access was granted to Turkish investigators to conduct a professional and effective crime-scene examination and search required by international standards for investigation."

In Saudi Arabia, 11 nationals are facing trial in connection with the killing, though the UN has said it has "major concerns" over the fairness of proceedings against them.
 

Saudi crown prince had threatened to use 'bullet' on Khashoggi: NYTimes

1 hour ago
A year before Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told an aide he would use "a bullet" on the journalist if he did not return home and end his criticism of the government, the New York Times reported on Thursday.

The crown prince's comments to a top aide in 2017 were made well before Khashoggi was killed last October in a Saudi consulate in Istanbul, the Times reported, citing current and former U.S. and foreign officials knowledgeable about intelligence reports.

The comments were intercepted by American intelligence agencies, the newspaper reported.
 
Turkish authorities believe Khashoggi's body was probably burned in a tandoor-style oven at the Saudi consul's home. As this oven can fire up to 1,000C, it leaves no trace of DNA of body parts or bones. A few days after JK was murdered, it is believed his body parts were brought to the Saudi consul's home. The Saudi men living at that address ordered huge portions of meat, both cooked and uncooked and they had a barbecue. Police now strongly suspect that JKI's body parts were burned.

This is just so gross.

 
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Turkey’s Sabah newspaper has released transcripts of conversations regarding the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Saudi Arabia’s Istanbul consulate last year.

'I know how to cut very well'

The audio transcripts reveal a conversation between Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb, a member of the 15-man hit squad allegedly dispatched to carry out the murder and Dr Salah Muhammed al Tubaigy, the head of Forensic Evidence at the Saudi General Security Department.

Mutreb asks whether the body can be disposed of in a bag to which Tubaigy responds that it is “too heavy, very tall too.”

Tubaigy adds: “I know how to cut very well. I have never worked on a warm body though, but I'll also manage that easily.

“I normally put on my earphones and listen to music when I cut cadavers. In the meantime, I sip on my coffee and smoke. After I dismember it, you will wrap the parts into plastic bags, put them in suitcases and take them out (of the building).”

Mutreb then asks whether the "animal to be sacrificed" has arrived. At 10:14 GMT (13:14 local), a member of the hit squad confirms Khashoggi’s arrival at the consulate.

'Do not do it, you will suffocate me'

The tapes also provide insight into Khashoggi’s last conversation.

Khashoggi is greeted at the consulate by someone he is familiar with and then invited into the consul’s office, which he is subsequently pulled by the arm into.

Mutreb then tells Khashoggi: "We have to take you back [to Riyadh]. There is an order from Interpol. Interpol demanded you be returned. We are here to take you."

Khashoggi then responds that there are no lawsuits against me and "my fiancee is waiting outside for me."

Mutreb then urges Khashoggi to leave a message for his son to which the Saudi dissident retorts: “What should I say, 'see you soon'?”

As the interrogation team further piles pressure on the journalist, Khashoggi asked: “How can such a thing take place at a consulate?”

“Help us so we can help you, because in the end we will take you back to Saudi Arabia and if you don't help us you know what will happen eventually,” Mutreb tells Khashoggi.

Khashoggi then asks: "There is a towel here. Will you have me drugged?"

Tubaigy responds “We will put you to sleep” before proceeding to drug him.

"I have asthma. Do not do it, you will suffocate me,” are Khashoggi’s last words.
Audio transcripts of Khashoggi’s murder released
 
According to the released recordings, Khashoggi is greeted by a familiar face or someone he knows, gauging from his reaction. He is told that the Consul General Mohammad al-Otaibi is also present in the building. First, he is politely invited into the consul's office on the second floor. When he starts to get suspicious, he is pulled by the arm. He then says;"Let me go, what do you think you're doing?"

As soon as Khashoggi enters the room, Mutreb says: "Please sit. We have to take you back [to Riyadh]. There is an order from Interpol. Interpol demanded you be returned. We are here to take you." To which Khashoggi responds: "There are no lawsuits against me. My fiancée is waiting outside for me."

During these conversations, another unidentified hit squad member, probably portraying the "bad cop" during the interrogation, repeatedly tells Khashoggi to "cut it short."

At 1:22 p.m. Mutreb asks Khashoggi whether he has any mobile phones on him. Khashoggi responds with "I have two mobile phones." Mutreb asks "which brand" and Khashoggi says "iPhone."
Saudi hit squad’s gruesome conversations during Khashoggi's murder revealed
 
"What happened in Istanbul almost a year ago, was a stain on Saudi Arabia, stain on our culture, our people, our government," Saudi Ambassador to London Prince Khalid Bin Bandar Al-Saud told the BBC in a special interview on Wednesday.

"I wish it didn't happen," he said.

The remarks -- the first time Saudi Arabia has called the brutal murder a "stain" on the kingdom -- come only two weeks before the first anniversary of the incident.
Saudi ambassador describes Khashoggi murder as 'stain'
 
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Saudi Arabia is hosting a two-day media summit that began on Monday, just days after a crackdown on writers and bloggers and a year after journalist Jamal Khashoggi's murder.

Riyadh, which appears to be intensifying a crackdown on free expression, is seeking to shore up its international reputation following criticism over its human rights record as it prepares to host the G20 summit next November.

The Saudi Media Forum is hosting more than 1,000 journalists from Arab and international media, in a first such conference focused on "opportunities and challenges" in the industry, organisers said.

"We believe in the important role media plays today, as well as freedom and independence of the press," Mohammed al-Harthi, president of the forum, said in a statement.

This year Saudi Arabia slid to 172 out of 180 countries in an index ranking freedom of the media, prepared annually by Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
Saudi Arabia holds media summit a year after Jamal Khashoggi's murder
 
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