Khashoggi murder trial: Will the UK tell public the truth?

Britain, France, and the United States should issue public reports on the Jamal Khashoggi murder trial: The media, UN and public are banned from trial proceedings, so who will tell the truth?

The three countries are among those that the Saudi government invited to attend the trial proceedings, which have been closed to the United Nations, the media, and the public.

Murder and trial

On 2 October 2018, Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered in the Saudi consulate building in Istanbul, Turkey. Mr Khashoggi was reportedly strangled moments after entering the building. His body has never been recovered. 11 alleged suspects are currently on trial before the Specialised Criminal Court in Riyadh for the murder.

Amnesty launched a campaign calling on UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to set up an independent investigation into Jamal’s Khashoggi’s death on 2 October 2018.

The trial in Riyadh of 11 suspects charged in the murder of Khashoggi, the Saudi columnist for the Washington Post, began on January 3, 2019. Given the serious and well-documented inadequacies of the Saudi criminal justice system, Britain, France and the United States should act to ensure that they do not provide cover for what could be a sham trial, the organisations said.

Secret trial proceedings “would also run the risk of enabling the authorities in Riyadh to find a set of individuals guilty, without due process, while whitewashing the possible involvement of the highest levels of the Saudi government,” the groups said in letters to French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

The groups also urged the three governments to press the Saudi leadership to allow independent observers from the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, international human rights groups, and international media organizations to attend the proceedings. Read more

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