Saudi Arabia notes ‘regret and pain’ at killing

A video image of Hatice Cengiz, fiancee of slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, is played during an event to remember Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington Post who was killed inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2, in Washington, Friday, Nov. 2, 2018. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

ANKARA, Turkey — A top Saudi human rights official has reiterated his government’s “regret and pain” over the death of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Speaking at a regular review of the kingdom’s record by the United Nation’s top human rights body, Bandar bin Mohammed al-Aiban, the president of the Saudi Human Rights Commission, emphasized that the monarchy had ordered an investigation to “bring the perpetrators to justice in order to bear the fact to the public.”

The killing of Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last month was likely to come up among representatives of more than 100 countries set to speak during the review of Saudi Arabia on Monday.

Other countries, including China, Mexico, Chad, and Monaco, are also due to be reviewed in coming days by the 47-member UN-backed body.

A newspaper close to Turkey’s government claimed that a team from Saudi Arabia sent to help Turkish authorities investigate the killing of Khashoggi worked instead to remove evidence of the slaying.

Sabah newspaper, citing “trusted sources,” said Monday that an 11-member team of Saudi investigators that arrived in Turkey nine days after Khashoggi was killed included a chemical expert and a toxicology expert.

On Saturday, the paper said Khashoggi’s body — which still hasn’t been found — was dismembered and removed from the Saudi Consulate in five suitcases.

Meanwhile, Khashoggi’s sons appealed for his remains to be returned so that he may be buried in Saudi Arabia.

In an interview with CNN on Sunday, the sons also said they hoped he did not suffer when he was killed.  /kga