Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA) strongly condemns the death threats made by a Senior Saudi official against Dr. Agnès Callamard, outgoing United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary killings, following her investigation of the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi committed in 2018 at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.

It was in fact reported that a Senior Saudi official had threatened twice Dr. Callamard during a UN diplomatic meeting in January 2020. The threats were related to Callamard’s independent report, released on 19 June 2019, following a six-month investigation of the killing of Mr Khashoggi led by the UN Special Rapporteur. In her report, the Special Rapporteur found Saudi Arabia responsible under international law for the killing of Mr. Kashoggi and notably violated the prohibition against arbitrary deprivation of life, against enforced disappearance and against torture. The human rights expert further called on States to take the necessary measures to exercise their universal jurisdiction over this crime of extrajudicial killing.

Agnès Callamard is a prominent human rights defender and was the very first one to independently open an inquiry into Mr Khashoggi’s murder. Throughout her career, she has led human rights investigations in more than 30 countries, and has supported the work of PGA on many occasions, notably during PGA’s 2020 UN Advisory Committee. In recognition of her distinguished career in the field of international human rights, Dr. Callamard has been appointed as Secretary General of Amnesty International today, effective immediately.

States should never use threats or any other forms of attack to intimidate UN investigators or to jeopardize the independence of their work, which is essential to ensure the monitoring and protection of fundamental rights. UN Human Rights experts and UN personnel should never be threatened or intimidated for doing their jobs.

PGA urges the UN Secretary-General and all Member States to publicly condemn such actions which undermine human rights protection and the Rule of Law. Member States must firmly support the work of UN independent investigators and ensure they can conduct their mandate efficiently, diligently and without fear of retaliation.