Move FM Global News

GENEVA, Switzerland – An international investigation is underway into the assassination of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

The surprise development was revealed by the Reuters Thomson news agency on Thursday.

The probe has been ordered by the United Nations Human Rights Council.

Reuters says Dr. Agnes Callamard, UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, will be in Turkey next week.

The news agency says she has stated she is travelling to Turkey next week to head an “independent international inquiry” into the death of Khashoggi.

Callamard has led human rights investigations in more than thirty countries and published extensively, in both English and French, on human rights, women’s rights, freedom of expression, refugee movements and the methodology of human rights investigation. She has written or directed volumes, on monitoring political killings, excessive use of force, and torture as well as on sexual violence in armed conflicts.

Callamard, in a statement to Reuters in Geneva, said that during her visit to Turkey, which will begin on 28 January and conclude on 3 February, she will ‘evaluate steps taken by governments’ to respond to alleged murder of Mr Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and “the nature and the extent of states’ and individuals’ responsibilities for the killing.”

“My findings and recommendations will be reported to the UN Human Rights Council at the June 2019 session,” she said.