The Washington PostDemocracy Dies in Darkness

Saudi official rejects reports that he threatened U.N. investigator in Khashoggi murder

Agnès Callamard, U.N. special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, takes part in the Human Rights Council session in Geneva on June 25, 2019. (Denis Balibouse/Reuters)

BEIRUT — The head of Saudi Arabia's Human Rights Commission on Thursday denied media reports that a senior Saudi official had threatened the U.N. expert who led the investigation into the 2018 murder of Jamal Khashoggi.

Earlier this week, the Guardian newspaper quoted Agnès Callamard, the U.N. expert on extrajudicial killings and soon-to-be Amnesty International secretary general, as saying that a Saudi official had threatened that she would be “taken care of” if she was not reined in by the United Nations.

The U.N. human rights office confirmed the Guardian’s report to Reuters on Wednesday.

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Callamard had published a detailed report on the grisly murder of Khashoggi, a Saudi royal family insider turned critic who was last seen entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2, 2018. She frequently, and unflinchingly, criticizes Saudi Arabia’s practices.

On Thursday, Awwad al-Awwad, president of the Saudi Human Rights Commission, revealed himself to be the official in question. “It has come to my attention that Ms. Agnes Callamard of Amnesty International and some U.N. officials believe I somehow made a veiled threat against her more than a year ago,” he wrote on Twitter.

“I reject this suggestion in the strongest terms. While I cannot recall the exact conversations, I never would have desired or threatened any harm upon a U.N.-appointed individual, or anyone for that matter.”

The Saudi Human Rights Commission has been accused over the past few years of turning a blind eye to violations in the kingdom. The government-run body touts improvements to Saudi Arabia’s record, such as a decrease in executions. It is silent, however, about the continued imprisonment of women’s rights activists and prominent clerics who stray from the official government line — especially those who criticize Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Callamard’s investigation in 2019 concluded that there was “credible evidence” that Mohammed and senior Saudi officials were responsible for killing Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributor and a U.S. resident. She called for sanctions targeting Mohammed’s assets and international engagements.

The Guardian reported that, when asked how the alleged comment by Awwad was perceived by her U.N. colleagues, Callamard said: “A death threat. That was how it was understood.”

Last month, the Biden administration declassified a long-awaited intelligence report that concluded that Mohammed “approved” the operation against Khashoggi. But the U.S. administration did not punish the heir to the Saudi throne. “The relationship with Saudi Arabia is bigger than any one individual,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at a news conference last month.

The State Department, however, did impose what it called “the Khashoggi ban”: restrictions against anyone found to be “acting on behalf of a foreign government” and involved in “serious, extraterritorial counter-dissident activities.” Seventy-six Saudi individuals have already been listed for targeting Khashoggi and other dissidents overseas.

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