The Saudi Arabia government has denied the allegation against Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman over the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
The accusation made by the UN expert stated that there was “credible evidence” that the Crown Prince and other high-level officials were individually involved in the killing of Jamal Khashoggi.
UN special rapporteur Agnes Callamard’s released a report on Wednesday insisting that there was enough evidence against Salman.
The revelations, including audio transcripts showing the Saudi agents involved referring to Khashoggi as a “sacrificial animal”, have piled pressure on Western allies to suspend arms sales to the Kingdom.
While Callamard’s report did not offer definitive evidence linking Prince Mohammed to Khashoggi’s murder, it said it was “inconceivable” such a large-scale operation could be implemented without him being aware.
Early on Thursday, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel Al-Jubeir also slammed the UN’s report by calling it a “baseless allegation”.
The minister added that Saudi Arabia “will never accept any attempt to harm its sovereignty and that it categorically rejects any attempt to derail this issue of Khashoggi’s murder”.
Saudi journalist and columnist for the Washington Post Jamal Khashoggi was killed inside the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul in October 2018.