A/HRC/41/36 I. Introduction 1. The present report is submitted to the Human Rights Council in accordance with Council resolution 35/15. It provides a summary of the human rights inquiry initiated by the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions in January 2019 into the unlawful death of Jamal Khashoggi, a journalist from Saudi Arabia. The full results of the inquiry are provided in the report on the investigation into the unlawful death of Jamal Khashoggi.1 II. Human rights inquiry into the execution of Jamal Khashoggi 2. In January 2019, the Special Rapporteur initiated a human rights inquiry, in accordance with the terms of her mandate, 2 into the unlawful death of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. 3. The execution of Mr. Khashoggi is emblematic of a global pattern of targeted killings of journalists and media workers, as well as human rights defenders and political activists, that is regularly denounced by States, United Nations agencies, special procedure mandate holders and a large number of international and national human rights organizations. In response, the General Assembly, in its resolution 68/163, proclaimed 2 November as the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists and urged Member States to implement measures to counter the current culture of impunity. In 1998, the Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, a milestone in the protection of human rights defenders.3 4. The execution of Mr. Khashoggi sits at the intersection of trends and concerns which not only feature prominently among the priorities of the international community and the United Nations, but which have also proven challenging to address effectively. The human rights inquiry into the execution of Mr. Khashoggi therefore seeks to shed light on the normative, legal and policy issues that Member States, the United Nations, civil society and corporate actors must consider in order to strengthen the effectiveness of their preventive and protective mechanisms. State responsibility 5. Evidence collected by the Special Rapporteur shows that the interception of Mr. Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate was the result of elaborate planning, involving extensive coordination and significant human and financial resources. It was overseen, planned and endorsed by high-level officials, as identified by the Saudi prosecutor. The evidence that the killing was premeditated is credible and includes the presence of a forensic doctor on the Saudi special operations team who, while in the consulate, described his methods of dismemberment only an hour before Mr. Khashoggi entered the consulate building. 6. The circumstances of Mr. Khashoggi’s death have led to numerous theories and allegations, but none alters the responsibility of the State of Saudi Arabia. In determining State responsibility, it is legally irrelevant which State officials ordered Mr. Khashoggi’s death, or whether one or all of them ordered a rendition which, having been botched, ended in an accidental killing, or whether the officers acted on their own initiative to render Mr. Khashoggi back to Saudi Arabia but killed him in the process, or whether the officers acted ultra vires (the so-called “rogue State agents” theory) and killed him intentionally. 7. The killing of Mr. Khashoggi constituted an extrajudicial killing for which the State of Saudi Arabia is responsible. His attempted kidnapping would also constitute a violation under international human rights law. His killing further constituted a violation of the 1 2 3 A/HRC/41/CRP.1. See www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Executions/Pages/Inquiry.aspx. See www.ohchr.org/en/issues/srhrdefenders/pages/declaration.aspx. 3