UN investigator criticises Saudi ‘bully-boy tactics’
A UN rights expert yesterday accused Saudi Arabia of bullying after a top official allegedly threatened her life following her probe into journalist Jamal Khashoggi's 2018 murder.
"The Saudi Arabia threat against me was brazen, it took place in a high level diplomatic setting and it was made public, confirmed by the UN," Agnes Callamard said in a tweet.
Such "bully-boy tactics should not find shelter anywhere," she insisted.
"They do not belong at the UN, but regrettably, often find accommodation there."
At a meeting with UN officials in Geneva in January 2020, a senior Saudi official threatened twice to have Callamard "taken care of" if she was not restrained by the United Nations, The Guardian newspaper reported this week.
Without naming the Saudi official, Callamard -- the UN's special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary executions -- told the British daily that the comment was perceived by her Geneva-based colleagues as a "death threat".
Rupert Colville, a spokesman for the UN rights office, confirmed to AFP that "the details in the Guardian story about the threat aimed at Agnes Callamard are accurate". The UN body had informed Callamard about the threat, he added.
"The Secretary‑General's message is very simple and very clear, that any and all such threats are unacceptable," a spokesperson for the UN chief said. Awwad Alawwad, the head of Saudi Arabia's Human Rights Commission, meanwhile said Thursday that Callamard and UN officials believed he made the threat, something he rejected "in the strongest terms."
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