The United States has told the UN Human Rights Council that a "thorough, conclusive, and transparent" investigation into what it called the "premeditated killing" of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi is "essential."
It says the investigation must be "carried out in accordance with due process with results made public."
The U.S. call came as several Western countries attending a UN review of Saudi Arabia's human rights record on November 5 voiced outrage about Khashoggi's killing.
Some of the countries represented at the UN rights council meeting in Geneva, including Iceland and Costa Rica, went further with their criticism and demanded an international investigation.
The United States quit the 47-member UN rights council in June, accusing it of bias against Israel. But Washington still had observer status at the Saudi review.
Turkey says Khashoggi was strangled as soon as he entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on October 2 as part of a planned killing, and that his body was then dismembered and destroyed.
Bandar al-Aiban, the head of the Saudi government's delegation at the UN review, told the UN review that the kingdom will prosecute those responsible for killing Khashoggi at the consulate.
Aiban told the hearing that King Salman has instructed the Saudi public prosecutor to "proceed with the investigation into this case according to the applicable laws and preparation to reaching all facts and bringing all the perpetrators to justice."
Meanwhile, Khashoggi's sons on November 5 demanded the return of the body of the Washington Post columnist and critic of the Saudi government, who disappeared at the consulate on October 2.
All 193 UN member countries must undergo the so-called Universal Periodic Review approximately once every four years.
Saudi Arabia's last review was in 2013.