A press officer for the office of Callamard, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, confirmed his views to CNN on Tuesday.
The Saudi government did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment.
Khashoggi had written several questionable columns for the Washington Post criticizing Saudi rule.
Callamard told the Guardian that her colleagues said they saw the threats at a high-level meeting in January 2020 with Saudi diplomats based in Geneva and visiting Saudi officials and “understanding” them as a “death threat. “
This was one of the officers visiting Saudi who said they had received phone calls from people who were willing to “take care of her,” she said.
CNN was unable to independently verify Callamard ‘s account of the exchanges.
In addition to threatening her life, Saudi officials also made allegations that she received money from Qatar and widely criticized her investigation into the murder, she said, according to her colleagues who present.
In the interview, Callamard described it as “the only time where the United Nations was so strong on that issue” saying that it made “clear to the Saudi delegation that this was completely inappropriate. and that it was thought that this should go no further. “
Callamard observed that “these threats do not work for me,” saying that they did not “stop me from acting in a way that I think is right.”
She is due to take up a new post this month as Secretary General of Amnesty International, having fulfilled her role as UN since 2016.