A prime Saudi official issued an alleged demise risk towards the United Nations particular rapporteur for extrajudicial killings Agnes Callamard after her probe into the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Callamard made the declare in an interview with The Guardian.
A UN employee warned Callamard in January 2020 {that a} senior Saudi official had twice threatened throughout a high-level assembly with different UN officers in Geneva that month to have Callamard “taken care of” if the outgoing impartial investigator was not restrained by the UN for her probe into Saudi officers, Callamard informed The Guardian.
“A death threat. That was how it was understood,” the French human rights specialist stated on how the remark was seen by her UN colleagues.
She stated the assembly had taken place between Geneva-based Saudi diplomats, visiting Saudi officers and UN officers in Geneva.
The visiting Saudi official allegedly stated he knew individuals who had supplied to “take care of the issue if you don’t,” in response to Callamard. Callamard additionally stated that the Saudi officers accused her of getting obtained cash from Qatar.
The UN officers current within the assembly reportedly expressed alarm to the threats whereas the opposite Saudi officers tried to reassure them that the remark ought to not be taken significantly, Callamard stated.
‘Credible evidence’ crown prince behind homicide
Callamard investigated and printed in June 2019 an in depth report into the homicide of Khashoggi, who had been a critic of the Saudi authorities.
The 100-page report said that there was “credible evidence” that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and different prime Saudi officers have been accountable for the homicide of Khashoggi and known as the killing an “international crime.” The journalist had been primarily based within the US earlier than being assassinated on the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
“You know, those threats don’t work on me. Well, I don’t want to call for more threats. But I have to do what I have to do. It didn’t stop me from acting in a way which I think is the right thing to do,” Callamard, who is about to tackle her new place as secretary basic of the worldwide non-governmental group, Amnesty International, informed The Guardian.
The Saudi authorities has not but commented on the allegation.
