UN investigator 'denied entry' into Saudi 'Khashoggi murder' consulate in Istanbul

The UN investigator leading an international probe into the murder of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi has not been granted permission to enter the crime scene inside the Saudi consulate building in Istanbul.

Instead, Special Rapporteur Agnes Callamard and her team of experts toured around the consulate's neighbourhood on Tuesday without being able to enter the building, telling reporters they were waiting for permission from Saudi officials.

Speaking outside the consulate, Callamard said she had requested access to the premises from Riyadh and to meet Saudi authorities both in Turkey and in the kingdom.

"To be fair the request to them has come quite late, so we need to give them a bit more time to process our request," she said.

"We are respectfully calling on the authorities to give us access at some stage while we are here. We just wanted to have a sense of it,” she told reporters."

The expert on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary killing said she would present her report in June to the UN's Human Rights Council.

Callamard met with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Monday. The team is on a week-long visit to Turkey and is expected to meet with Istanbul's chief prosecutor later on Tuesday.