UPDATE - UN Rapporteur calls for public trial in Khashoggi case

ADDS DETAILS; REMARKS BY AGNES CALLAMARD

By Jeyhun Aliyev

ANKARA (AA) - A UN's human rights expert demanded on Thursday that Saudi Arabia carry out a public trial proceeding for the killing case of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

"Make public all trial proceedings and all evidence against the accused," UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial and Arbitrary Executions Agnes Callamard said in a statement.

Callamard said Saudi Arabia’s "closed-door trials" of those accused of killing Khashoggi have "fallen short of meeting international standards" and urged the Saudi government to invite international and independent experts to monitor the trial proceedings.

“The Government of Saudi Arabia is grievously mistaken if it believes that these proceedings, as currently constituted, will satisfy the international community, either in terms of procedural fairness under international standards or in terms of the validity of their conclusions,” she said.

She also condemned the lack of transparency in Saudi Arabia’s investigation, as well as legal proceedings into Khasshoggi killing.

"The investigation and subsequent prosecution should comply with international legal standards and that demands the highest levels of transparency and impartiality," Callamard stressed.

Callamard said that 21 individuals were detained by the government of Saudi Arabia as a result of its investigation into the case, adding that 11 are currently being tried, five of whom face the death penalty.

The human rights expert noted that neither identities of the accused nor their roles in relation to the government or the details of the charges they face have been "disclosed publicly" by the Saudi authorities.

She also urged the kingdom to make public details and results of efforts to "establish the whereabouts" of Khashoggi’s remains.

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.