US should ban surveillance equipment exports to Saudi Arabia over Khashoggi killing: UN

The United States should consider a moratorium on the export of surveillance equipment to Riyadh over the killing of former Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, a UN human rights expert said in a congressional hearing on Friday.

"[There] should be a moratorium... [on] the export of [US] surveillance equipment to Saudi Arabia," UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, Agnes Callamard, told the US House Intelligence Committee. "It could only be lifted if there's been demonstrated progress in respect of human rights."

Callamard also called for an investigation into any kind of misuse of the surveillance equipment the United States has provided to Saudi Arabia.

Khashoggi, a columnist for the Washington Post, went missing last October after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Riyadh initially denied any knowledge of the journalist's whereabouts but eventually admitted that Khashoggi was killed and dismembered inside the embassy.

Riyadh has repeatedly denied allegations that any members of the royal family were involved in the incident. A Saudi court has sentenced eight suspects for their role in Khashoggi's death, according to the prosecutor's office. (/Sputnik)

( With inputs from ANI )