Tehran (Iran News) – A law firm has filed a petition at the International Criminal Court (ICC) to have Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) investigated for alleged “crimes against humanity”, including the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Khashoggi, 59, was killed a year ago by a team of Saudi agents in the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul and his dismembered body has not been found.

Saudi Arabia has consistently denied that MBS ordered the killing, but a UN investigator has said there was “credible evidence” of the crown prince’s liability that warrants further investigation while the CIA has reportedly concluded that the killing was probably ordered by the prince.

In a petition filed to the ICC’s chief prosecutor in July and made public on Wednesday, the anniversary of Khashoggi’s killing, the US-based law firm Fein & Delvalle requested that the prosecutor petition the UN Security Council to refer the crown prince’s alleged crimes to the ICC.

“Mohammed Bin Salman, through command or superior responsibility, is guilty of murder, torture, rape, extortion, illegal detentions, wrongful prosecution and the death penalty, i.e., crimes against humanity as defined in Article 7 of the Rome Statute,” the filing argues.

“The victims have been selected because of their opposition to the Crown Prince’s merciless tyranny,” it adds.

The petition was filed on behalf of an anonymous human rights organisation, whose identity has been redacted in the filing.

It was not clear whether the Hague-based court would respond to the petition, as it only has jurisdiction over crimes committed on the territory of its member states. Neither Saudi Arabia nor Turkey is a member of the court.

Khashoggi was an established and respected journalist who at the time of his murder was a resident of the United States and a columnist for the Washington Post newspaper. In a number of his columns for the Post, he was critical of MBS’s domestic and international policies, including the Saudi-led coalition’s war in Yemen.

In the weeks after his murder, the Saudi government denied that he had been killed in the consulate, insisting he had left soon after he arrived. But after Turkish officials shared information about the murder with domestic and international news media, Riyadh changed its narrative, saying that he was killed by a team of “rogue” Saudi agents.

Under international pressure, the Saudi prosecutor opened an investigation into the murder and 11 suspects have been put on trial in the kingdom, with the attorney general seeking the death penalty for five of the accused.