NGOs condemn UN agreement with Saudi security chief implicated in Khashoggi murder

Two NGOs have written to the United Nations' counterterrorism office over its decision to sign an agreement with a Saudi security chief allegedly implicated in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Earlier this week, Alqst and MENA Rights Group wrote a letter addressed to Alexandre Zouev, the UN’s acting undersecretary general for counterterrorism.

The groups wrote of their “profound alarm” after the UN’s counter-terrorism centre (UNCCT) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) late last month with Saudi Arabia’s presidency of state security (PSS), following a visit by Zouev to Riyadh. 

The head of PSS, who signed the agreement with Zouev, is Abdulaziz al-Howairini. 

“Mr al-Howairini, with whom the MoU was signed, was directly implicated in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, as confirmed by former UN Special Rapporteur Agnes Callamard's investigation,” the letter stated.

Middle East Eye journalist Khashoggi was murdered by Saudi agents at the consulate in Istanbul in October 2018, in an assassination that US intelligence believes was approved by the Saudi crown prince.

Callamard’s report into the killing the following year found that “State Security agency officials arranged for all travel, including the private jets and accommodations”.

Callamard refers in her report to a tape made available in which she heard Saudi Arabia’s consul general in Istanbul speaking to an individual identified as “AA”, who speaks of a “top secret mission”. 

A report in The Guardian in December 2021 noted that several witnesses had reported seeing Howairini in luxury villas in Riyadh, where individuals charged with the murder of Khashoggi were living.

'Generic responses'

Prior to the agreement being signed, Alqst and MENA Rights Group wrote to Zouev, calling on the UN’s counterterrorism office to adhere to UN principles and international law, as well as to engage with civil society to ensure human rights compliance on global counterterrorism. 

They said they received “generic responses” that failed to address specific concerns, and were followed three weeks later with the signing of the agreement. 

According to the UN’s human rights due diligence policy, UN entities are required to assess any risk of support to non-UN security forces that could contribute to international human rights law violations. 

Sources for this assessment include UN human rights bodies, as well as NGOs like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty. 

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“A meaningful risk assessment drawing on these sources would have immediately revealed the PSS's systematic record of grave human rights violations,” the rights groups wrote. 

"The new UN-Saudi agreement on counter-terrorism, signed with an official who's implication in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi was documented in a UN expert's investigation, formalises a partnership with a state security apparatus responsible for widely documented human rights abuses, including arbitrary detention, torture, and enforced disappearance of peaceful dissidents,” Tanya Boulakovski of MENA Rights Group told MEE. 

Saudi rights abuses

The kingdom has long been accused of using counterterrorism legislation to commit rights violations, including executions, torture and detention of political prisoners. 

The UN’s own rights experts, including special rapporteurs on counterterrorism, human rights and extrajudicial killings, as well as committees against torture, against the elimination of discrimination against women, and against racial discrimination, have documented such Saudi rights abuses. 

“[The agreement] demonstrates the UN counter-terrorism architecture's blatant disregard for human rights, inability to act independently from major financial donors, and its continued willingness to enable repressive states to commit grave abuses under the guise of counter-terrorism, with a UN stamp,” said Boulakovski. 

Nadyeen Abdulaziz of Alqst told MEE: “Saudi authorities systematically weaponise counter-terrorism frameworks to silence peaceful critics through arbitrary detention, torture, travel bans, and even executions”. 

In addition to the memorandum, Saudi Arabia was selected as the first rotating chair of a working group aimed at “countering terrorist travel”. 

The rights groups said they were alarmed at Riyadh’s involvement in such a group, given its arbitrary use of travel bans imposed on human rights defenders and their families. 

It cited the example of women’s rights defender Loujain al-Hathloul, who was released from prison but is now under an arbitrary travel ban. Her parents have been subjected to an unofficial travel ban since 2018.