GENEVA - VOA’s Geneva Stringer Lisa Schlein interviews Agnes Callamard, U.N. special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, regarding her report on the killing of Saudi dissident and journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
“Let's see, this morning before the interview, I received a- an email from the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs in Saudi Arabia and he had some rather unflattering remarks to make in regard to you and your report, saying that- accusing you of publishing unfounded allegations and accusations and that it's an encroachment upon its sovereignty which is unacceptable, and also questions your competency to present an objective and impartial report. How do you react to that criticism?”
“It's unfortunate that, yet again, the authority of Saudi Arabia refused to engage with the substance of my report and of the allegations, choosing instead to- to use, as you put it, unflattering comments and- and focusing on me as a person rather than on the reports. They have repeatedly said yesterday that my allegations were unfounded, but they did not specify which allegations they did not agree with, and they've remain at the very general level, and in my view, demonstrating their unwillingness and inability to confront their responsibilities as a state.”
“They also said that you used unnamed experts and sort of dodgy sources, if I may say, so if I could ask you in answering this question too, what were your sources? Where did you get your information, and is there any truth to using unnamed sources that lack a certain credibility?”
“The reason why I have decided not to name the sources is a question of security for the sources. The authorities of Saudi Arabia are known, this has been well reported, well demonstrated, they are known to engage in threatening activities against people that they do- they deem to be a threat to their, to their governance system, and that people who are dissident, people who are journalists, friends and colleagues of Mr. Khashoggi. So for this reason I decided I will not name people who could find themselves at harm's way on the part of Saudi Arabia. There are many other sources that I could have named that didn't oppose me naming them, just for the- for the sake of consistency, I opted not to not to name anyone. However, the- I have at my disposal a list of all the person I have interviewed, I know which quote is done by whom. We have kept very careful information and details of where the information came from, and I will be willing to hand over that information to an international criminal investigation. I will not, however, repeat NOT, hand over that information to the Saudi authorities because they have demonstrated time and time again that they cannot be trusted with the safety of my sources.”
“Now you say that you will hand this over to a criminal investigation. One of the points that the Saudis make is that your own investigation is not an official or binding report. Perhaps you could answer to that, and- and what is the importance of having a criminal investigation? You have called for the secretary general and perhaps others to- to begin such a thing.”
