Jamal Khashoggi was the victim of a "deliberate, premeditated execution", claims independent report
New York, June 19 (IBNS): In the first independent investigation into the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a United Nations special rapporteur has concluded that the Saudi Arabian scribe was the victim of a "deliberate, premeditated execution", media reports said.
In a much anticipated report, released Wednesday, UN extrajudicial executions investigator Agnes Callamard said that Saudi Arabia was responsible under international law for Khashoggi's "extrajudicial killing", reported CNN.
The CNN report further said the special rapporteur does not make any conclusions on the guilt of the Saudi Crown Prince and King. Instead, Callamard says that there is "credible evidence meriting further investigation by a proper authority" as to whether the "threshold of criminal responsibility has been met."
On October 2 last year, Khashoggi had walked into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and never left.
Saudi Arabia maintains he was murdered inside on the orders of a rogue intelligence officer, Turkish officials claim to have evidence -- including audio recordings -- indicating that the journalist was killed by Saudi agents on orders that came from the highest reaches of the country's administration.
BBC reported that the Gulf kingdom has put 11 unidentified people on trial behind closed doors for Khashoggi's murder and is seeking the death penalty for five of them.
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