Khashoggi probe: UN expert visits Saudi Consulate site

By Emin Ileri

ISTANBUL (AA) - A UN official visiting Turkey on Tuesday to investigate the killing last fall of a Saudi journalist inspected the grounds of the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, where he was killed.

Agnes Callamard, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, who is leading a team of experts in an international inquiry into the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, walked around the site and learned more about the killing.

"We just wanted to [get an] over-sense of it and we are respectfully calling on the authorities to give us access," Callamard told reporters.

On the prospects of entering the consulate building itself, she said: "The request to the Saudi Consulate came quite late, so we need to give them a bit more time to process our request."

She is set to report her findings to the UN Human Rights Council this June.

Callamard will be in Turkey through Saturday for the probe.

Turkey's presidential communications director Tuesday said on Twitter: "We welcome Callamard's visit to Turkey in relation to the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi."

"We still do not know where Khashoggi's body is, who ordered the hit, and who the 'local collaborator' was. Justice must be served," wrote Fahrettin Altun, referring to an alleged local who may have been involved in the disposal of Khashoggi's body, which has yet to be found.

Khashoggi, a contributor to The Washington Post, was killed at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2.

After producing various contradictory explanations, Riyadh acknowledged he was killed inside the consulate building, blaming the act on a botched rendition operation.

Turkey has sought the extradition of the Saudi citizens involved in the killing as well as a fuller accounting of the killing from Riyadh.