Oliver Towfigh Nia
15 November 2019•Update: 15 November 2019
BERLIN
A spokeswoman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on Friday called again on Saudi Arabia for a "full and credible explanation" of the murder case of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
This came a day after UN special investigator Agnes Callamard accused Merkel of complicity in the brutal killing of the journalist. "We have always made clear that we still expect a full and credible explanation from Saudi Arabia and that is still true, a year after this murder," Ulrike Demmer told Anadolu Agency in response to a question on the matter.
In an interview with Business Insider Germany on Thursday, Callamard partially blamed Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron for the sluggish Saudi investigation.
It was "one thing" when U.S. President Donald Trump behaves like that to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, Callamard said. However, that "European leaders like Angela Merkel or Emmanuel Macron have joined this travesty" was "unacceptable", she added.
In her official report on the killing of Khashoggi at the Saudi Embassy in Istanbul, Callamard called for an independent investigation into Saudi Arabian government officials, including the crown prince.
A columnist for the Washington Post, Khashoggi was killed and dismembered on Oct. 2, 2018 by a Saudi hit squad in the Kingdom's Istanbul Consulate. His body was never found.
