A/HRC/41/CRP.1 Saudi Arabia, characterized by arbitrary detention, imprisonment, unfair trial, the use of torture, and enforced disappearances. 316 The Kingdom also imprisoned princes and businessmen in the Riyadh Ritz-Carlton on accusations of corruption. There is further, evidence of a programme of abduction of princes and princesses, living abroad. The Special Rapporteur was informed of the abduction of Sultan Ben Turki Al-Saoud, Turki Ben Bandar Al-Saoud, Saoud Ben Saif Al-Nasr, and Tarek Obaid. The most brazen of the acts attributed to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia took place in November 2017 when Saudi Arabia detained and placed under house arrest Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, forcing him to resign on public television. The identity and activities of Mr. Khashoggi 379. An assessment of whether Turkey or the United States “knew or should have known” of the threats to Mr. Khashoggi’s life should also focus on Mr. Khashoggi, and whether his national identity and activities put him at particular risk. 380. He was a Saudi citizen living abroad in self-exile because of his fear for his life and liberty in his country of birth. In the year preceding his death, he published a number of pieces in the Washington Post in which he criticized the absence of press freedom in Saudi Arabia. From his exile, he had confided to many that, if he were to return to Saudi Arabia, he would be detained and possibly harmed. He had reiterated to many that he could not return to jis home country. Likewise, there may have been Intelligence Intercepts suggesting that if he were to be lured back to Saudi Arabia, he would be detained. 317 Such risks, however, were not linked to his life and presence in the countries where he had sought to live, namely the US and Turkey. There is no evidence of Mr. Khashoggi or anyone connected to him approaching security agencies with information regarding possible risks or threats to his life or well-being, let alone imminent threats, of abduction. 381. On balance, on the basis of information available to the Special Rapporteur, and the information she could substantiate, she has concluded that Turkey or the United States did not violate their obligation to protect Mr. Khashoggi: the due diligence threshold for the obligation to protect against the killing was not reached. She finds it hard to comprehend that intercepts of the Crown Prince’s communications would not have been assessed shortly after they were intercepted, and certainly since September 2017 considering the critical role of Saudi Arabia in US domestic and foreign policies. But she has no evidence to prove that there were intercepts or that they had been assessed before the killing of Mr. Khashoggi. If, however, the allegations that the CIA knew of threats to Mr. Khashoggi’s life and had assessed such threats accordingly before his death - are substantiated, then the implications must be considered.318 Similarly, if it is made known that Intelligence agencies from other countries had been in possession of information indicating a clear and foreseeable threat to Mr. Khashoggi’s life, they too could be found to be in breach of their responsibility to protect, including to warn him. 316 317 318 74 See e.g. https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadPublicCommunicationFile?gId=23522; https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadPublicCommunicationFile?gId=23967; https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadPublicCommunicationFile?gId=24291 When the Canadian Minister for Foreign Affairs called for the release of two women’s rights activists in August 2018, within a few days, the Saudi authorities had declared the Canadian ambassador persona non grata and expelled him from the country, while trade relationship with Canada were broken off. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/crown-prince-sought-to-lure-khashoggiback-to-saudi-arabia-and-detain-him-us-intercepts-show/2018/10/10/57bd7948-cc9a-11e8-920fdd52e1ae4570_story.html?utm_term=.0098fa2c501c A lawsuit has been filed by the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, asking for a judicial order compelling the relevant agencies to disclose records in their possession regarding Saudi threats to Khashoggi and their failure to warn him thereof. https://knightcolumbia.org/content/knight-institute-and-committee-protect-journalists-v-ciafoia-suit-records-governments-duty