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UN rights chief calls to lift Saudi ‘immunity’ over Khashoggi
GENEVA, Oct 16, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – The UN human rights chief called Tuesday
for the lifting of the immunity of officials who might be involved in the
disappearance of a Saudi Arabian journalist at the kingdom’s consulate in
Turkey.
“In view of the seriousness of the situation surrounding the disappearance
of Mr. (Jamal) 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,” rights chief
Michelle Bachelet said in a statement.
Turkish police on Monday searched the Saudi consulate in Istanbul for the
first time since Khashoggi, a Saudi national and US resident who became
increasingly critical of powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, went
missing.
He has not been seen since he walked into the Istanbul consulate —
officially Saudi territory — to sort out marriage paperwork on October 2.
Turkish officials have said they believe he was killed — a claim Saudi
Arabia has denied — with the controversy dealing a huge blow to the
kingdom’s image and efforts by its youthful crown prince to showcase a reform
drive.
Bachelet stressed that “under international law, both a forced
disappearance and an extra-judicial killing are very serious crimes, and
immunity should not be used to impede investigations into what happened and
who is responsible.
“Two weeks is a very long time for the probable scene of a crime not to
have been subjected to a full forensic investigation.”
Saudi Arabia can lift the immunity of its consulate and officials.
Bachelet’s spokesman Rupert Colville told AFP that the UN rights chief had
been in contact with the Saudis to discuss the matter.
“Given (that) there seems to be clear evidence that Mr. 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,” Bachelet
said.
US media reported on Monday that the kingdom is considering an admission
that Khashoggi died after an interrogation that went wrong during an intended
abduction.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1533 hrs