UN: Riyadh ‘undermined’ Turkey’s access to Khashoggi murder scene

The United Nations‘ preliminary observations of the human rights inquiry into the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi says it was a “brutal, premeditated killing – planned and perpetrated by Saudi Arabian officials”.

The findings of the UN Special Rapporteur on Extra-Judicial Executions, Agnes Callamard, follow a weeklong trip to Turkey with a team of experts to examine the evidence.

Her initial conclusion is that Saudi Arabia “seriously undermined” Turkey’s efforts to access the crime scene and investigate the murder at the Istanbul consulate.

Callamard has requested an official visit to Riyadh and expressed “major concerns” about fairness for the 11 suspects on trial for the murder.

Al Jazeera’s diplomatic editor James Bays reports.