US Unlikely To Take Action Against Saudis Over UN Khashoggi Report - Human Rights Lawyer

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 20th June, 2019) The United States will unlikely take any action against high-level Saudi officials, including Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, in line with recommendations made by the United Nations' report on the murder of Saudi columnist Jamal Khashoggi, human rights lawyer Francis Boyle told Sputnik.

"So I don't think this UN report will matter at all to the Trump administration," Boyle said on Wednesday. "The crown prince is Trump's man in the Gulf."

Boyle emphasized that Turkey will have to take the lead on any possible initiative to further seek to hold Saudi officials accountable for the Khashoggi murder.

Earlier on Wednesday, a report by UN Special Rapporteur Agnes Callamard called on the FBI to investigate bin Salman's role in the October 2018 killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi to determine whether the de facto Saudi ruler should be punished under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act.

The act allows the United States to sanction corrupt government officials for abuses anywhere in the world.

Khashoggi 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 diplomatic mission.

Saudi authorities have charged 11 people in the Khashoggi case, but have repeatedly denied any involvement by the country's royal family in the murder.

US President Donald Trump has accepted Saudi Arabia's claim that Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman was not aware of what Riyadh has called a rogue operation in the Khashoggi murder.