Seven human rights and press freedom groups are urging the United States, Britain and France to speak out publicly about the trial in Saudi Arabia of 11 people charged in the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi which their diplomats are attending. Last week, the independent U.N. human rights expert on extrajudicial executions, Agnes Callamard, who is leading a human rights investigation into Khashoggi’s killing, denounced the shrouded trial and called on the kingdom to identify the defendants. The seven groups urged the U.S., Britain and France to press the Saudis to allow observers from the U.N. human rights office and international human rights and media organizations to attend the trial. They did not write to or make similar requests of the Russians and Chinese. The seven groups are Amnesty International, Article 19, Committee to Protect Journalists, Human Rights First, Human Rights Watch, PEN America and Reporters Without Borders.

Source: National Post April 05, 2019 23:58 UTC