- A top Saudi official has reportedly threatened to have the Khashoggi investigator taken care of by the UN.
- Agnès Callamard, the UN expert, involved Saudi Crown Prince MBS in her report on Khashoggi.
- Callamard told the Guardian the reported death threats did not affect her work.
- See more stories on Insider’s business page.
A senior Saudi official has issued a death threat against Agnès Callamard, the special rapporteur for the United Nations, who is investigating the brutal murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the Guardian reported on Tuesday.
Callamard told the Guardian that a colleague in January 2020 told her a top Saudi official during a meeting with senior UN officials in Geneva in the same month, twice threatened to have her cared for.
She said her colleagues in Geneva understood the remarks as a death threat. The meeting involved Saudi diplomats in Geneva, visiting Saudi officials and UN officials. Saudi officials were critical of Callamard’s investigation into Khashoggi’s murder, the Guardian reported and expressed anger over her conclusions. One of the visiting Saudi officials reportedly said he had received calls from people willing to “take care” of Callamard if the UN did not act.
The UN officials present pushed back the remarks as the other Saudi officials present tried to downplay the comments, according to the report.
“It was reported to me at the time and it was one time where the United Nations was actually very strong on the issue. People who were present, and also after that, made it clear to the Saudi delegation that it was absolutely inappropriate and that there were an expectation that it would not go any further, “Callamard said.
“You know, the threats do not work on me. Well, I do not want to ask any more threats. But I have to do what I have to do. That has not stopped me from acting in a way that I think is the right thing to do, “said Callamard, who will start a new post as secretary general of Amnesty International this month.
The Saudi embassy in Washington, DC, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider.
Callamard’s investigation directly involved Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of the kingdom, in the October 2018 assassination of Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Khashoggi was a columnist for the Washington Post at the time of his assassination, and in his writing was often critical of the Saudi government – including Prince Mohammed.
The June 2019 UN report, compiled by Callamard, describes Khashoggi’s assassination as a deliberate, premeditated trial, an extrajudicial killing for which the state of Saudi Arabia is responsible under international human rights law. ‘
“There is credible evidence that justifies further investigation into the high liability of Saudi officials, including the Crown Prince,” the report said.
A recently downgraded U.S. intelligence report drew similar conclusions, judging that Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman had approved an operation in Istanbul, Turkey, to capture or kill Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.