Five years since a Saudi hit squad killed journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, the lack of accountability in the case rankles advocates of human rights, democracy and press freedom.
International organizations, news columnists and other advocates on Monday pointed to the continuing lack of a full criminal investigation or any judicial procedure that has held to account Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who, according to U.S. intelligence, approved the mission to "capture or kill" Khashoggi.
Khashoggi, a 59-year-old Saudi journalist and permanent U.S. resident who worked as a Washington Post columnist, was lured to the consulate by the promise of papers he needed to marry his Turkish fiancé Hatice Cengiz.
There, a team of Saudi officials killed Khashoggi, who was once a Saudi royal court insider and had written critically about the Saudi crown prince, known as MBS, who is Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler.
“The path to justice for his killing remains fully blocked," said Amnesty International’s Secretary General Agnès Callamard, a former U.N. special investigator who led an international inquiry into the case.
"An independent and impartial criminal investigation into the role played by high level officials is yet to take place," she said, adding that Saudi authorities continue their "relentless crackdown on freedom of speech with complete impunity."
Crimes under international law
Saudi Arabian authorities closed the case in 2019 after convicting eight people in a closed trial. That same year, Callamard told the Human Rights Council in Geneva that Khashoggi's killing on Oct. 2, 2018, was the victim of “a premeditated extrajudicial killing for which the state of Saudi Arabia is responsible."
Now, she says, Khashoggi’s "enforced disappearance, torture and extrajudicial execution are crimes under international law, which must be urgently investigated and may be prosecuted by any state through universal jurisdiction."
Last year, a U.S. federal judge said there were “credible allegations" of the Saudi crown prince's involvement in Khashoggi’s murder. The judge dismissed a lawsuit against MBS, however, based on U.S. President Joe Biden administration’s interpretation that he was legally immune in the case.
"It’s been a half a decade since Jamal Khashoggi’s heinous murder, but to date, no one has been held accountable," said Marwa Fatafta, a policy and advocacy manager for the Middle East and North Africa region for Access Now.
Her advocacy group for digital rights was one of 15 organizations that signed a joint letter calling on the Biden administration to "reverse its policy and prioritize" human rights in Saudi Arabia.
"The U.S. administration and tech companies are helping to rehabilitate Saudi Arabia’s reputation by turning a blind eye to the country’s undeterred repression and abuse of human rights," she said.
A declassified U.S. intelligence report, released by the Biden administration after being shielded by the former Trump administration for two years, allowed U.S. officials to formally blame MBS but complicated U.S.-Saudi relations.
A Washington Post editorial said after five years "there has been no closure — not for us, not for his family and friends, and not for all those in the Arab world who would benefit from his vision of more openness and democracy in governance."
"Closure means finally getting the truth and holding to account" the Saudi crown prince, it said, "who dispatched the killers, and everyone else involved."
