UN rights chief calls to lift Saudi 'immunity' over Khashoggi
Geneva, Oct 16 : The UN human rights chief called Tuesday for the lifting of the immunity of officials who might be involved in the disappearance of a Saudi Arabian journalist at the kingdom's consulate in Turkey.
"In view of the seriousness of the situation surrounding the disappearance of Mr. (Jamal) Khashoggi, I believe the inviolability or immunity of the relevant premises and officials bestowed by treaties such as the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations should be waived immediately," rights chief Michelle Bachelet said in a statement.
Turkish police on Monday searched the Saudi consulate in Istanbul for the first time since Khashoggi, a Saudi national and US resident who became increasingly critical of powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, went missing.
He has not been seen since he walked into the Istanbul consulate - officially Saudi territory - to sort out marriage paperwork on October 2.
Turkish officials have said they believe he was killed - a claim Saudi Arabia has denied - with the controversy dealing a huge blow to the kingdom's image and efforts by its youthful crown prince to showcase a reform drive.
Bachelet stressed that "under international law, both a forced disappearance and an extra-judicial killing are very serious crimes, and immunity should not be used to impede investigations into what happened and who is responsible.
"Two weeks is a very long time for the probable scene of a crime not to have been subjected to a full forensic investigation." Saudi Arabia can lift the immunity of its consulate and officials.
Bachelet's spokesman Rupert Colville told AFP that the UN rights chief had been in contact with the Saudis to discuss the matter.
"Given (that) there seems to be clear evidence that Mr. Khashoggi entered the Consulate and has never been seen since, the onus is on the Saudi authorities to reveal what happened to him from that point onwards," Bachelet said.
US media reported on Monday that the kingdom is considering an admission that Khashoggi died after an interrogation that went wrong during an intended abduction.
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BS Yediyurappa appeals to MLA Yatnal's group to work unitedly to strengthen party
Bengaluru, Nov 26: With a group of Karnataka BJP leaders led by Bijapur MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal holding a parallel agitation over the waqf issue, veteran party leader B S Yediyurappa on Tuesday accused them of doing it because of their "self-conceit", and appealed them to work unitedly to strengthen the party.
The former Karnataka chief minister also said that everyone should take the responsibility for the party's defeat in the Assembly bypolls for three segments, even as the BJP's performance is being seen as a "setback" for his son and state president B Y Vijayendra.
"State president B Y Vijayendra has appealed to Basangouda Patil Yatnal and others to stop protesting separately, and work with us unitedly. Despite this, because of their self-conceit, they are doing such things. It is not right on their part," Yediyurappa said.
Speaking to reporters here, he said, "I appeal to them at least now to come forward and cooperate to strengthen the party together."
When told that they are not willing to work unitedly with the state's current leadership of the party and whether he will bring it to the notice of the high command, Yediyurappa said, "We will do our duty. The rest is left to them and central leadership...high command knows everything. Let's see what they will do."
Yatnal-led group include BJP MLAs Ramesh Jarkiholi, B P Harish, and former lawmakers Aravind Limbavali, Kumar Bangarappa and G M Siddeshwara and others.
The leaders, who had stayed away from the protest recently held by the party on the Waqf issue, on Monday held a parallel agitation over the issue in Bidar. Today, they are in Kalaburagi district.
Yatnal and Jarkiholi have been openly critical of Vijayendra, accusing him of indulging in "adjustment politics" with the ruling Congress, and trying to keep the party in his clutches along with his father Yediyurappa.
Noting that the party had faced a setback in the bypolls for Sandur, Shiggaon and Channapatna, Yediyurappa said, "We accept that. What shortcomings were being discussed in the party. It should be ensured that such things don't repeat."
To a question whether the bypoll loss is being seen as a setback to his son Vijayendra, he said, "It is not a question of Vijayendra or Yediyurappa. The loss in all the three seats is a setback for us (party). Everyone should take the responsibility and see to it that such things don't repeat."
