Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman’s efforts to distance himself from the gruesome murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul suffered a major setback at the United Nations today when the body’s special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, Agnes Callamard, said evidence suggests that the crown prince and other senior Saudi officials are liable for the Saudi dissident’s death in October.
“There is credible evidence warranting further investigation of high-level Saudi officials’ individual liability, including the crown prince’s,” Callamard said in a 100-page report that took months to write. “Every expert consulted finds it inconceivable,” she noted, “that an operation on this scale could be implemented without the crown prince being aware, at a minimum, that some sort of mission of a criminal nature directed at Mr. Khashoggi was being launched.”
