No steps have yet been taken by the Saudi Arabia administration and United Nations in the criminal investigation of journalist Jamal Khashoggi's execution that took place last year revealed a UN independent investigator on Friday, October 25.
The UN probe in June has established that "a planned, organised, well-resourced and premeditated extrajudicial killings" was carried forth by the state of Saudi Arabia and should be held accountable, the report was presented to the UN Human Rights Council.
The "chain of command" which are the people involved in the ordering or turning blind eye to Khashoggi's murder at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, needs to be "unpacked", Agnes Callarard was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.
Knowing that the international body is limited and cannot necessarily draw a "strong conclusion", she stated that "the UN could have pushed the boundaries of what we as an international community are prepared to do."
"That I deeply regret — that the secretary-general and other institutions within the UN did not take this opportunity to push further our understanding of the chain of command, and our commitment to tackling chain of command," she said.
Saudi's 'mistake'
While several leads to the investigation have indicated the Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman's role in the murder, the Saudi government have criticised Callamard's 101-page report of not following proper procedures and using unverified sourcing.
The revealing comes a month after the Saudi prince said the killing of Washington Post columnist happened under his watch but without his knowledge.
Speaking to the CBS show "60 Minutes" he denied ordering Khashoggi's murder but stated that he bears "full responsibility" as the killing was carried out by his government's officials and the incident was a "mistake".
As per reports, while eleven suspects have been put on trial in confidential proceedings, only a few hearings have taken place. The trial also does not include the former top advisor to the prince, Saud al-Qahtani, who has been sanctioned by the US for his alleged role in the execution operation.
Callamard has however claimed that findings suggest the crown prince role at "some level"."I do not know whether the crown prince ordered the crime. What I do know is that there is enough evidence pointing to his responsibility at some level."
While she said that it is not yet determined what his 'responsibility' entailed, she said the prince was likely to 'ordering or inciting Khashoggi's killing, criminal involvement or knowing but not acting on what he knew.'
