Two Years After Khashoggi’s Murder, the Fight for Justice Isn’t Over
Dozens of countries took Saudi Arabia to task at the United Nations Human Rights Council earlier this month for its human rights violations, demanding accountability for the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The rebuke came just days after U.S. President Donald Trump was revealed to have admitted on tape that he helped shield the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, from scrutiny by obstructing Congress’ inquiries into Khashoggi’s brutal murder at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, in October 2018. “I saved his ass,” Trump reportedly said of the crown prince in an interview with the journalist Bob Woodward.
Trump’s remarks were nothing less than an admission that he
gave MBS, as the crown prince is widely known, a license to kill journalists
with impunity. It fits with the broader message he’s sent to Saudi Arabia and
other authoritarian countries in the wake of Khashoggi’s murder: Do business
with us, and we’ll look the other way when you surveil, intimidate or murder
critics of your government—even if they are U.S. residents. The Saudi
government has responded, unsurprisingly, by intensifying its domestic
crackdown on the press, arresting journalists and sentencing them to years in
prison.
Now, as the second anniversary of Khashoggi’s murder
approaches, U.S. policymakers and elected officials must take steps to send a
different message: that the assassination of a journalist will never be
tolerated.
The fight for transparency and justice for Khashoggi in the
U.S. has been an uphill one, mainly due to the Trump administration’s intransigence.
The administration has ignored numerous requests from Congress to investigate
the murder, including a legally binding requirement that a bipartisan group of
senators triggered in 2018 under the Global Magnitsky Act. That would have
required Trump to investigate Khashoggi’s killing and provide a report to
Congress, a deadline he ignored.
While the administration did announce sanctions on 17 Saudi
officials implicated in the killing, the designations did not include
high-ranking officials such as MBS, even though the U.S. intelligence community
reportedly concluded that he ordered the assassination and the Senate
unanimously found that he was responsible. Even when Congress sought to punish
Riyadh by voting to end American support for the Saudi war in Yemen, or by
blocking U.S. arms sales, Trump vetoed the measures. In one case, Secretary of
State Mike Pompeo used a dubious declaration of an emergency to bypass
Congress’ refusal to approve $8 billion in arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the
United Arab Emirates.
Given the Trump administration’s stonewalling, some
advocates may be resigned to simply wait for a new administration. But that
approach assumes and risks too much. Congress should continue to use the
various tools at its disposal to keep pressure on the administration and the
Saudi regime.
In one welcome development, the House Intelligence Committee
recently approved a funding bill that includes a provision reaffirming the
legal requirement that the U.S. intelligence community provide Congress with an
unclassified report on Khashoggi’s murder. Until that happens, the measure
would withhold funding for U.S. engagement with Saudi intelligence or security
services. The bill is awaiting a vote in the House.
Given the possible role of Saudi intelligence services in
Khashoggi’s murder, this provision would impose real costs on Riyadh. Our
organization, the Committee to Protect Journalists, has documented how the
Saudis likely spied on Khashoggi and his colleagues through the use of
surveillance technology called Pegasus, made by the Israeli spyware company NSO
Group, which is the target of a lawsuit in Israel. We also know the Saudis have
used such tools to spy on numerous journalists and dissidents.
Trump has sent a clear message to Saudi Arabia: Do business
with us, and we’ll look the other way when you surveil, intimidate or murder
critics of your government.
Right now, it is far too easy for abusive regimes to use
such tools to threaten journalists and dissidents. This is a problem that hits
home in the U.S., as well. Facebook has accused the NSO Group of using
U.S.-based servers to install spyware on mobile phones, and there have been
reports of former U.S. intelligence agents working for foreign governments to
help them surveil journalists and dissidents. Congress has a role to play here,
by critically examining the proliferation of surveillance technology like
Pegasus, and exploring U.S. and global policy responses.
But given the inaction by the Trump administration and the
myriad issues that grip Washington policymakers—including the pending election
in November and the COVID-19 pandemic—it may fall on U.S. courts to secure some
progress in Khashoggi’s case.
CPJ is currently leading a federal lawsuit against the U.S.
intelligence community, seeking the release of documents that may provide
information on its awareness of threats to Khashoggi’s life. The CIA, one of
the defendants in our case, reportedly warned several of Khashoggi’s associates
about threats from Saudi Arabia. The agency denied our requests for documents
under the Freedom of Information Act on possible threats or warnings to
Khashoggi himself.
The intelligence community has argued that merely confirming
or denying the existence of any such documents related to Khashoggi’s case is a
threat to U.S. national security. In a ruling for the defendants, a federal
judge in Washington recently accepted that argument, but we vehemently disagree
and are in the process of appealing the verdict.
Our case, which enjoys broad support from civil society
organizations, urges that the intelligence community be ordered to confirm or
deny the existence of documents, or else submit more detailed explanations that
adequately justify their withholding of them. The intelligence community’s
response is due this Thursday. Similarly, a federal court in New York will
consider a lawsuit by the Open Society Justice Initiative, filed under the
Freedom of Information Act, seeking to compel the administration to immediately
make public its assessment of who is responsible for Khashoggi’s murder.
The Trump administration’s lackluster response to
Khashoggi’s killing is one example of how it has given oppressive regimes a
green light to abuse the human rights of their citizens, leaving record numbers
of journalists behind bars around the world. Just last month, Jordanian
authorities arrested and charged cartoonist Emad Hajjaj for his criticism of
the recent normalization agreement between Israel and the UAE. The State
Department, which has routinely issued statements of concern on press freedom
violations around the world, remained quiet on Hajjaj’s case.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia currently holds the rotating
presidency of the G-20, and is due to convene a summit in November aimed at
restoring MBS’ image as a reformer. The U.S. and other G-20 countries have an
opportunity to use that occasion to pressure the Saudis again about Khashoggi,
and on the fact that Saudi Arabia is one of the world’s worst jailers of
journalists. Failure to do so will only encourage further abuses.
It will take years of work to undo the damage done by the
Trump administration to America’s reputation on human rights and to journalists
and dissidents around the world. But that work need not wait until the next
election. Two years after the brazen murder of Jamal Khashoggi, it is still not
too late to secure justice.
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