UN Envoy gets no reply from Saudi Consulate on journalist Khashoggi's killing

The UN's special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Agnes Callamard, who will be conducting an international probe into the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, on Sunday said that she has not yet received any reply from the Saudi authorities.

Al Jazeera reported that Callamard on Saturday requested the authorities seeking access into Saudi Arabia's Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, and to visit the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

"I conceive of this inquiry to be a necessary step, among a number of others, towards crucial truth-telling about and formal accountability for the gruesome killing of Mr. Khashoggi," said Callamard.

Callamard, who is expected to visit Turkey from January 28 to February 2, had said earlier this week that a team of three people, comprising legal and forensic experts, will seek to establish "states' and individuals' responsibilities" for the killing.

Khashoggi, a journalist for Washington Post, was killed in the Saudi consular premises in Istanbul, Turkey on October 2 last year.

Since then, Saudi Arabia, while acknowledging the gruesome killing, has started trial against 11 suspects, with prosecutors seeking the death penalty for five of the accused, a trial which has been slammed by the UN Human Rights Council as "insufficient."

There has also been a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) report which points towards the involvement of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman.

The allegations against the Crown Prince, also known as MBS, have been repeatedly and strongly refuted by Saudi Arabia.

Callamard's findings are expected to be reported to the UN Human Rights Council in June this year.