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UN rights expert to visit Turkey for international inquiry in Khashoggi murder

UN rights expert to visit Turkey for international inquiry in Khashoggi murder

Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi

The United Nations human rights office said on Friday that a team of international experts would conduct an inquiry into the murder of Saudi critic and journalist Jamal Khashoggi, news agency Reuters reported.

In a statement, the UN official said that it special rapporteur on extrajudicial, Agnes Callamard, will travel to Turkey next week to head an "independent international inquiry" into the Khashoggi murder at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October.

The visit will take place from January 28 to February 3. Callamard will also be accompanied by Helena Kennedy and Duarte Nuno Vieira.

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Khashoggi, a critic of Saudi crown prince Mohammed Bin-Salman, was murdered on October 2 in what Saudi Arabia called a "rogue" operation, tipping the kingdom into one of its worst diplomatic crises and subsequently straining ties between Riyadh and Washington.

As the investigation is still on in both Turkey and Saudi Arabia, investigators in Istanbul have claimed that he was killed by a team of 15 Saudis who strangled him during Khashoggi's visit to the consulate.

US intelligence agencies believe the crown prince ordered an operation to kill Khashoggi, whose body was dismembered and removed from the building to a location still publicly unknown. Top Turkish officials have also tied his death to the highest levels of Saudi leadership.

Riyadh has denied any claims of the crown prince's involvement but the case has caused strains with Washington.

On January 3, a Saudi court held its first hearing on Khashoggi's case in which Saudi Arabian prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for five of the 11 suspects in the case. The United Nations human rights office also called the trial "not sufficient."

(With inputs from agencies)