UN Should Create Permanent Mechanism To Probe Murders Of Journalists - Rapporteur

GENEVA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 25th June, 2019) UN Special Rapporteur Agnes Callamard, the author of the recent report on the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, told Sputnik that the United Nations should create a special mechanism to investigate murders of journalists and human rights activists.

On Wednesday, Callamard issued a report concluding that Khashoggi's death was a premeditated extrajudicial murder for which Saudi Arabia is responsible. She called on UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to launch a follow-up criminal probe of the killing due to "credible evidence" that warrants further investigation of senior Saudi officials, including Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

""I think at the moment the UN has been paralyzed in responding to that crime because of the politics. It is a pity. And in many ways it does not need to be paralyzed, if there is a more permanent mechanism that can take actions, without making it difficult for the secretary-general to do so politically," Callamard said, adding that the mechanism should be permanent, not ad hoc.

She pointed out that such a mechanism should have two main functions.

"One, it could be to support the work of local authorities in investigation in one way or the other ... If that does not work out or fail, then the second function would be to initiate an investigation, where those investigations have not happened, or have not delivered any kind of result," Callamard added.

Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington Post, went missing last October after he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Riyadh initially denied any knowledge of the journalist's whereabouts but eventually admitted that Khashoggi was killed and dismembered inside the embassy.

Saudi authorities have charged 11 people with Khashoggi's murder but have repeatedly denied any involvement of the royal family.