RIYADH - There is "credible evidence" linking Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi last October, an independent UN rights expert said Wednesday, calling for an international investigation.
In a fresh report, the UN's special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Agnes Callamard, said she had "determined that there is credible evidence, warranting further investigation of high-level Saudi Officials’ individual liability, including the Crown Prince's."
The report stressed that "no conclusion is made as to guilt. The only conclusion made is that there is credible evidence meriting further investigation, by a proper authority, as to whether the threshold of criminal responsibility has been met."
Callamard said, for instance, she had found evidence that "Khashoggi was himself fully aware of the powers held by the Crown Prince, and fearful of him".
Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributor and critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was murdered at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2.
Riyadh initially said it had no knowledge of his fate but later blamed the murder on rogue agents. -AFP