Jakarta, CNN Indonesia –
United Nations (PBB) confirmed that an official Saudi Arabia threatens death at an independent expert investigating death cases Jamal Khashoggi.
UN human rights spokesperson, Rupert Colville, directly confirms the threat to Agnes Callamard that was first exposed The Guardian this.
“We confirm that the news details Guardian “The threat to Agnes Callamard is accurate,” Colville told Reuters, Wednesday (24/3).
Callamard told The Guardian that he knew the threat from his friend. According to his colleague, the threat came during a meeting between the Saudi delegation and UN officials in Geneva, Switzerland.
During the meeting, Riyadh officials criticized Callamard’s findings regarding Khashoggi’s case that the Saudi crown prince, Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS), was responsible for the murder of the Washington Post journalist.
Afterwards, a senior Saudi official was heard telling people around him to get ready to “take care of him [Callamard].”
“Threat of death. They understood it to be a death threat. The people present confirmed to the Saudi delegation that this statement was completely inappropriate,” Callamard said.
Callamard’s own findings are the same as US intelligence reports which state that MbS approved of Khashoggi’s murder.
Khashoggi is a columnist Washington Post who often criticized the Crown Prince. He was pronounced dead inside the Saudi consulate building in Istanbul, Turkey, in October 2018 after being declared missing.
The UN special rapporteur concluded the Saudis “carried out a deliberate and premeditated execution” of Khashoggi.
Although they had denied this, the Saudis finally admitted that Khashoggi was killed inside the consulate building. However, Riyadh insisted that the kingdom was not involved in the journalist’s murder. They assert that the killing was carried out by Saudi officials under dark orders.
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