Saudi Arabia rebuked at UN over abuses, Khashoggi

GENEVA: Dozens of nations condemned Saudi Arabia before the UN Human Rights Council on Tuesday over serious rights violations, and demanded accountability for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

In a relatively rare rebuke of the oil-rich kingdom before the UN's top rights body, Denmark's ambassador Carsten Staur read a statement on behalf of 29 states demanding justice for Khashoggi.

In the third joint statement to the council targeting Riyadh since the 2018 killing, the mainly European countries renewed a call for "transparency and holding all those responsible accountable".

The Saudi journalist -- who wrote opinion pieces for The Washington Post -- was lured into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018 to handle marriage paperwork.

Within minutes, the one-time royal insider turned critic was strangled and his body dismembered, according to Turkish and US officials.

A Saudi court this month handed lengthy jail terms to eight unnamed defendants and overturned five death sentences, in a ruling harshly condemned by Khashoggi's fiancee and UN rights expert Agnes Callamard, the special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings.

Callamard, who like the CIA had previously linked Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to the killing, decried that top officials who allegedly ordered his death had walked free.

Tuesday's statement, which was hailed by several human rights groups, also highlighted a wide range of other serious rights violations in Saudi Arabia.

"We remain deeply concerned by reports of torture, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances and detainees being denied access to essential medical treatment and contact with their families," it said.

Staur said the countries welcomed recent reforms such as restricting flogging and the death penalty against minors, but stressed that journalists, activists and others still face persecution, detention and intimidation.

And while welcoming "recent positive steps in women's rights" in Saudi Arabia, he said the group of countries remained "deeply concerned about the persisting discrimination" towards women and girls.

Saudi Arabia has detained and put on trial a dozen women activists who long campaigned for the right to drive, which was finally granted in the kingdom two years ago.

Some of the activists allege they were tortured and sexually harassed by interrogators.

Staur highlighted that at least five women's human rights defenders arrested in 2018 remain in detention.

"We reiterate our call for the release of all political detainees and are particularly concerned about the use of the counter-terrorism law and other security provisions against individuals peacefully exercising their rights," he said.

Tuesday's statement also urged dramatic improvements as Riyadh strives to obtain a seat on the 47-member Human Rights Council.

"Council membership comes with an expectation of upholding the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights," Staur said.