A/HRC/41/CRP.1 19 June 2019 English only Human Rights Council Forty-first session 24 June - 12 July 2019 Agenda item 3 Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, Political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development Annex to the Report of the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions: Investigation into the unlawful death of Mr. Jamal Khashoggi* * Reproduced as received. GE.19-10061(E) A/HRC/41/CRP.1 Contents Page Executive summary ....................................................................................................................... 4 Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 8 PART I. THE TIMELINE OF THE EXECUTION OF JAMAL KHASHOGGI ................. 14 Allegations of Surveillance of Jamal Khashoggi and Others by Saudi Arabia ............................. 14 Before the murder .......................................................................................................................... 14 Planning and preparation ............................................................................................................... 15 The disappearance and murder of Jamal Khashoggi ..................................................................... 19 The Turkish authorities learn of Mr. Khashoggi’s disappearance. ................................................ 21 Saudi 15 member-team leaves Turkey .......................................................................................... 21 Initial reactions and the beginning of Turkey’s investigative process ........................................... 23 Saudi Arabia’s continual denials and scene clean-up .................................................................... 24 Turkish investigators enter the Consulate and the Residence ........................................................ 26 Saudi Arabia’s admission and arrests ............................................................................................ 28 Some international reaction to the Saudi admission ...................................................................... 29 The Turkish investigators continues .............................................................................................. 30 Indictments and trials in Saudi Arabia .......................................................................................... 31 Other countries impose sanctions on Saudi officials ..................................................................... 33 Saudi Arabia trials ......................................................................................................................... 34 Other Saudi measures .................................................................................................................... 36 PART II. THE EXECUTION OF MR. KHASHOGGI, STATE AND INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITIES ................................................................................................................. 38 The right to life .............................................................................................................................. 39 Analysis of the facts of the execution of Mr. Khashoggi .............................................................. 40 State responsibility for the execution of Mr. Khashoggi ............................................................... 42 State responsibility for international wrongful acts ....................................................................... 44 Individual criminal responsibilities for the killing of Mr. Khashoggi ........................................... 47 PART III. INVESTIGATION INTO THE EXECUTION OF JAMAL KHASHOGGI.............................................................................................................................. 54 The standards: an overview .......................................................................................................... 54 Immunity, jurisdiction and access to the crime scene ................................................................... 56 Saudi implementation of its duty to investigate ............................................................................ 57 Turkey’s implementation of its duty to investigate ....................................................................... 60 PART IV. RESPONSIBILITY TO PROTECT AND THE DUTY TO WARN .................... 65 International standards .................................................................................................................. 65 The responsibility to protect applied to the execution of Mr. Khashoggi ..................................... 72 The responsibility to protect and to warn following the execution of Mr. Khashoggi .................. 75 PART V. PROSECUTION, REMEDIES AND REPARATION............................................. 77 Legal challenges ............................................................................................................................ 77 2 A/HRC/41/CRP.1 Steps taken to date ......................................................................................................................... 79 Remedies and reparations .............................................................................................................. 82 PART VI. INTERNATIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY ............................................................. 84 A follow-up criminal investigation of the execution of Mr. Khashoggi ........................................ 85 Universal jurisdiction .................................................................................................................... 86 Targeted and State sanctions ......................................................................................................... 88 Corporate social accountability ..................................................................................................... 90 Symbolic responses ....................................................................................................................... 91 Support to Freedom of Expression in the Gulf region ................................................................... 91 Re-enforcing the capacities of the UN to respond to acts of violence against, and killings of, journalists, human rights defenders and other activists ............................................... 92 PART VII. RECOMMENDATIONS ........................................................................................ 95 3 A/HRC/41/CRP.1 Executive summary State Responsibilities 1. Mr. Khashoggi’s killing constituted an extrajudicial killing for which the State of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is responsible. His attempted kidnapping would also constitute a violation under international human rights law. From the perspective of international human rights law, State responsibility is not a question of, for example, which of the State officials ordered Mr. Khashoggi’s death; whether one or more ordered a kidnapping that was botched and then became an accidental killing; or whether the officers acted on their own initiative or ultra vires. 2. The killing of Mr. Khashoggi further constituted a violation of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (thereafter VCCR) and of the prohibition against the extra-territorial use of force in time of peace (customary law and UN Charter). In killing a journalist, the State of Saudi Arabia also committed an act inconsistent with a core tenet of the United Nations, the protection of freedom of expression. As such, it can be credibly argued that it used force extra-territorially in a manner “inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.” 3. Further, the circumstances of the killing of Mr. Khashoggi may constitute an act of torture under the terms of the Convention Against Torture, ratified by Saudi Arabia. Finally, the killing of Mr. Khashoggi may also constitute to this date an enforced disappearance since the location of his remains has not been established. Individual liability 4. The Special Rapporteur has determined that there is credible evidence, warranting further investigation of high-level Saudi Officials’ individual liability, including the Crown Prince’s. She warns against a disproportionate emphasis on identifying who ordered the crime, pointing out that the search for justice and accountability is not singularly dependent on finding a smoking gun and the person holding it. The search is also, if not primarily, about identifying those who, in the context of the commission of a violation, have abused, or failed to fulfill, the responsibilities of their positions of authority. Duty to investigate and consular immunity 5. The Special Rapporteur has found that both the investigations conducted by Saudi Arabia and Turkey failed to meet international standards regarding the investigation into unlawful deaths. 6. Saudi officials were present in the Saudi consulate and residence in Istanbul from 6 to 15 October during which time they presumably investigated the killing. However, the Special Rapporteur was not provided with any information regarding the evidence they may have collected during this period. The Saudi Public Prosecution made public a few of their findings on 15 November but the statement was light on details, limiting itself to a few general allegations. Other statements regarding the actions and responsibilities of specific individuals were a welcomed step. However,