UK, France, Germany urge full-fledged investigation into Khashoggi's death
Tehran (KNA) - Britain, France and Germany have urged Saudi Arabia to provide "credible" facts for its explanation about the killing of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul.
"Nothing can justify this killing and we condemn it in the strongest possible terms," the three countries said in a joint statement on Sunday.
"There remains an urgent need for clarification of exactly what happened ... beyond the hypotheses that have been raised so far in the Saudi investigation, which need to be backed by facts to be considered credible," the statement added.
The three European countries stressed the importance of making more effort, saying they expected to establish the truth and ensure proper accountability for any crimes committed.
Saudi Arabia on Saturday admitted that the critic had died in the consulate after "discussions" at Riyadh's mission in Istanbul turned into "a brawl and a fist fight." It followed Saudi Arabia's denial for two weeks of its role in Khashoggi's disappearance on October 2.
An hour later, another Saudi official attributed the death to a chokehold.
Khashoggi was a Washington Post columnist and lived in the US, having fled Saudi Arabia in September last year.
In a joint statement issued on Saturday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister Heiko Maas strongly denounced Khashoggi's killing, rejecting Riyadh's "inadequate" explanation on the death of the prominent critic.
Source: PressTV