UN Report Finds Saudi Crown Prince Linked To Khashoggi Killing

UN experts on 19 June, reported credible evidence to link Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) to the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Relevance of the News: The news highlights criminal conspiracy by Saudi Arabia to suppress media activism pursued by Jamal Khashoggi.

The allegation regarding Prince Mohammed’s possible direct role in Khashoggi’s execution was detailed in a new report by the UN special rapporteur on extra-judicial, summary or arbitrary executions.
The special rapporteur asked UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to initiate a formal international criminal investigation into the case and also called for initiating sanctions on Prince’s foreign assets.
Although there is no evidence of who ordered the killing but persons directly implicated in the killing report to the MBS.
The report places responsibility of Khashoggi’s murder on the state of Saudi Ariabia and asks for further investigation of high-level Saudi officials.
The report finds half-hearted attempts by the Saudi officials in investigation of the crime and cites evidence of forensic cleaning of the crime scene by Saudi officials which amounts to obstructing of justice by Saudi Arabia.

Khashoggi was a Washington Post journalist and was a critic of Prince Mohammed.
He was murdered at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey on October 2, 2019 and his body has not been found yet.
Saudi Arabia has blamed rogue agents for the murder of Khashoggi and Saudi prosecutors have absolved the Crown Prince from any involvement.