Friends and supporters of Jamal Khashoggi urged President Trump to punish Saudi officials during a memorial service Friday near the White House, though turnout was lighter than anticipated as the Washington Post columnist’s killing recedes from national headlines.
Khashoggi’s friends, his fiancee, and a congressman addressed about 100 attendees at the Mayflower Hotel one month after the insider-turned-dissident was killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
Khashoggi’s fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, who previously refused an invitation to meet Trump at the White House, implored him in a taped message to support Turkish investigators, who have leaked grisly details of bone-saw dismemberment by a Saudi hit squad.
Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., referred to the former Virginia resident as “my constituent” and told attendees “the Saudi government blatantly concocted a series of lies” before admitting “he was cold-bloodedly murdered” with premeditation.
“I call upon President Trump to speak clearly and unequivocally about what has happened, and about what the U.S. is prepared to do,” Connolly said. “This is a time to speak morally, for once.”
Connolly recalled authorities claiming Khashoggi left the consulate on Oct. 2, before suggesting the possibility of rogue killers — “a lie also repeated by the president of the United States in speculative form,” he said — and then claiming he died after starting a fistfight.
“There’s only one lie left to be addressed, and that is the involvement of the crown prince of Saudi Arabia himself. This is not a time for rationalization or equivocation,” Connolly said.
Nearly half of the seats were empty at the memorial service. Organizers had expected at-capacity attendance. Speakers were imprecise about what penalties culprits should face, but called broadly for “justice” and said the U.S. shouldn’t prioritize arms deals with Saudi Arabia.
The event was held on the United Nations’ International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, and outside of the event, Connolly told the Washington Examiner there’s a broader need to address press freedom.
Asked about jailed Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, whose supporters including Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who launched a social media awareness campaign Friday, Connolly said: “Journalists doing their jobs should never be at risk of being in prison and should not be imprisoned, in Turkey or Saudi Arabia or anywhere.”
Connolly said he’s not sure if lighter than anticipated attendance suggests the Khashoggi case has lost public momentum after previously receiving pervasive news coverage. “Obviously, I’m here because I don’t want that to happen,” he said. “I feel strongly that this needs to be on the front burner. We cannot let this go.”
Noni Ghani, a spokesperson for Reporters Without Borders who addressed the ceremony, said at least 28 professional reporters or bloggers are currently jailed in Saudi Arabia.
Abdullah Alaoudh, a Saudi living in the U.S., said Khashoggi’s murder isn’t anomalous.
“The same exact [Saudi] attorney general who went to Turkey to investigate the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, who was murdered because of his peaceful activism and journalism, is actually seeking the death penalty against my father for similar peaceful activism,” Alaoudh said.
Another friend of Khashoggi, Dr. Esam Omeish, called him “an icon for freedom of expression,” and said “we are taught that the most honorable form of jihad — struggle — is to say a word of truth in front of a tyrant.”
Nihad Awad, founder of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, recalled meeting with Khashoggi at a Panera restaurant before he visited Turkey to retrieve paperwork to remarry.
“Your voice is here loudly, louder than ever,” Awad said, structuring his speech as a one-way conversation with the journalist.
“You cried many times when I asked you about your family, but I assured you it would get better. And you responded that you were afraid it would not get better. And you were right,” Awad said.
Apparently referring to the crown prince, Awad said: “Your killer’s name and those that ordered the killing, despite the fact that they spent billions of dollars to project a false image of reform and modernity, their names will be associated with crime … they will not be respected, they will not be accepted.”
