United Nations
\nSaudi Arabia and Turkey should \u201creveal everything\u201d they know about Jamal Khashoggi\u2019s disappearance, a top UN human rights official has said while demanding a \u201cthorough and impartial\u201d probe into the whereabouts of the dissident Saudi journalist.<\/p>\n
Khashoggi, 60, is feared to have been killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. The incident has resulted in a global outrage, more so in the US as he lived here as a legal permanent resident and worked for \u2018The Washington Post\u2019.<\/p>\n
Khashoggi vanished on October 2 after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Turkish authorities suspect he was abducted and murdered by the Saudis.<\/p>\n
But Riyadh insists that the journalist, a known critic of Saudi King Salman, had left the building and that murder claims are \u201cbaseless\u201d.<\/p>\n
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet on Tuesday urged the Governments of Saudi Arabia and Turkey to \u201creveal everything they know\u201d about the disappearance and a possible extra-judicial killing of the prominent journalist.<\/p>\n
Bachelet urged the authorities of both the countries \u201cto ensure that no further obstacles are placed in the way of a prompt, thorough, effective, impartial and transparent investigation\u201d.<\/p>\n
She welcomed the agreement that has allowed investigators to conduct an examination inside the consulate and possibly also at the residence of the Saudi Arabian Consul-General in Istanbul.<\/p>\n
Bachelet said diplomatic immunity of officials must be \u201cwaived immediately\u201d to ensure a prompt and transparent probe.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn view of the seriousness of the situation surrounding the disappearance of Khashoggi, I believe the inviolability or immunity of the relevant premises and officials bestowed by treaties such as the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations should be waived immediately,\u201d Bachelet said.<\/p>\n
She said under international law, both a forced disappearance and an extra-judicial killing were \u201cvery serious crimes\u201d and immunity should not be used to impede investigations into what happened and who is responsible.<\/p>\n
\u201cTwo weeks is a very long time for the probable scene of a crime not to have been subjected to a full forensic investigation,\u201d Bachelet said.<\/p>\n
Protection from national jurisdictions is bestowed on consular premises and officials by treaties such as the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere seems to be clear evidence that Khashoggi entered the Consulate and has never been seen since, the onus is on the Saudi authorities to reveal what happened to him from that point onwards,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The High Commissioner noted that Saudi Arabia and Turkey were both party to the \u2018UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment\u2019.<\/p>\n
They are obliged to take all measures to prevent torture, enforced disappearances and other serious human rights violations to investigate allegations of acts constituting these crimes, and to bring to justice those suspected of committing them, she said.<\/p>\n
Speaking to journalists in Geneva amid news reports that details of Khashoggi\u2019s death may surface soon, indicating that it was an accident, UN human rights office spokesperson Rupert Colville said potentially serious crimes had been committed and the perpetrators should be held accountable.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe one thing we really know as a solid fact is that Khashoggi went into the consulate and he was never seen coming out again,\u201d Colville said, adding that it seemed \u201cvery probable\u201d that some crime had been committed.<\/p>\n
\u201cEnforced disappearance or murder, if that has occurred, extra-judicial killing, either way, those are very serious crimes,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
United Nations Saudi Arabia and Turkey should \u201creveal everything\u201d they know about Jamal Khashoggi\u2019s disappearance, a top UN human rights official has said […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44657,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[87],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44656"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44656\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44658,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44656\/revisions\/44658"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}