International jurists condemn human rights violations in the Kingdom
At a seminar held in New York on the first anniversary of the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, international human rights activists condemned the gross violations of the Saudi regime in Saudi Arabia.
The symposium, entitled Human Rights and Freedom under Siege in Saudi Arabia, was held on the sidelines of the seventy-fourth session of the United Nations.
The UN Special Rapporteur on arbitrary executions, Agnes Kalamar, Khadija Genghis, fiancée of the late Khashoggi, Lina al-Hathloul, sister of Lujane al-Hathloul, detained in Saudi Arabia, and Abdullah al-Awda, son of Saudi preacher Salman al-Awda, also held in Saudi Arabia.
The UN rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, Agnes Kalamar, said the Saudi crown prince’s acknowledgment of his responsibility as governor for Khashoggi’s death was insufficient and not credible.
Khashoggi’s fiance, Khadija Genghis, said the crown prince’s claim that the killing was unknowing was a political maneuver, while Kalamar said confession without action was not credible.
“The same minds who brutally murdered Khashoggi are seeking to endorse the death penalty in an attempt to kill my father through the judiciary,” Abdullah al-Awdeh, son of preacher Salman al-Odeh, said during the seminar.
Lina al-Hathloul, sister of activist Lujane Hathloul, said that Saudi Arabia has already become a “police state. There is no room for freedom of thought, there is no room for freedom of expression and decisions are taken only by the authority.”
A number of American activists gathered in front of a conference organized by a Saudi institution on the sidelines of the association’s meetings, as part of an ongoing protest campaign to remind him of his case with the anniversary of his death.
The UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, Agnes Kalamar, had earlier asked the CIA to disclose secret data in her possession relating to Khashoggi’s murder. To achieve justice for Jamal Khashoggi requires patience, time and exposures of lies.
Meanwhile, The New York Times said the comments made by Mohammed bin Salman in a premiere of a documentary are unlikely to change the perception that he allowed the assassination of Khashoggi.
The newspaper said in a report that the US intelligence agency (CIA) likely that Mohammed bin Salman ordered the killing, adding that this is a conclusion reached by many officials in the United States and other countries.
She pointed out that Saudi officials denied any prior knowledge of the Prince of the assassination, and that US President Donald Trump, who sees the Saudi Crown Prince as the key to his plans for the Middle East, stood by him.
Mohammed bin Salman told the BBC’s Frontline correspondent Martin Smith in December last year, according to a preview of a documentary to be aired on October 1, that he was responsible for the assassination “because it happened under my authority.” But he denied having any prior knowledge of the plot.
The paper cited the trial of 11 suspects in Khashoggi’s assassination in Saudi Arabia, saying the trial was strictly confidential. She drew attention to a June report by Agnes Kalamard, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, who described the In which this trial lacked due process.
The newspaper described Saudi Crown Prince Smith’s remarks as one of the few times the prince has spoken out publicly about Khashoggi’s death. She said Mohammed bin Salman told reporters from Bloomberg the day after that interview that he did not know Khashoggi’s whereabouts and that his country had nothing to hide.
