UN human rights expert to visit Turkey over Khashoggi murder

ISTANBUL – The United Nations is dispatching a human rights expert to Turkey over the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

The U.N., in a statement Friday, said Agnes Callamard will head an international inquiry, starting with a weeklong visit to Turkey on Monday.

The Washington Post columnist, who wrote critically about the Saudi crown prince, was killed inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2.

The expert on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary killings is to evaluate the circumstances surrounding Khashoggi’s murder “from a human rights perspective.”

Turkish officials have called for an international investigation and have complained of a lack of co-operation by Riyadh.

Saudi Arabia has indicted 11 people, including some from the prince’s entourage, over the killing and is seeking the death penalty against five of them.