October 2 marks the fifth anniversary of the 2018 murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist and critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The IPI global network condemns the continued lack of accountability for this brutal crime and renews its call for independent, impartial criminal investigation into the role that high level Saudi officials played in his killing. We also urge the international community to prioritize this case and to push for full justice for Jamal Khashoggi.
On October 2, 2018, Khashoggi, a permanent resident of the United States, entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul under the guidance of Saudi officials who advised that he could obtain the necessary documents to marry his Turkish fiance at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. As his fiance waited for him outside, Khashoggi was killed inside the diplomatic mission by a team of 15 Saudi agents and his body was dismembered with a bone saw. His remains are yet to be found, denying his family the chance to pay respects and offer him a dignified burial.
Following international outrage, the Saudi courts tried 11 people who were allegedly responsible for the murder, while the government refused to cooperate with an investigation led by the UN special rapporteur for extrajudicial killings, Agnes Callamard. In September 2020, the Riyadh Criminal Court sentenced five people to death and three people to prison sentences between seven and ten years. After receiving pardons by the son of Khashoggi, the five people who initially received the death penalty were sentenced to 20 years in prison.
In February 2021, US intelligence officials published a report acknowledging that the Crown Prince has “absolute control of the Kingdom’s security and intelligence organizations, making it highly unlikely that Saudi officials would have carried out an operation of this nature without the Crown Prince’s authorization”. The report stated that MBS most likely blessed the operation to “capture or kill” Khashoggi.
In April 2022, a Turkish court halted the trial in absentia of 26 Saudi suspects and transferred it to Saudi Arabia.
In December 2022, a US district judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by the fiance of Khashoggi and Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), which sought unspecified punitive and compensatory damages under the 1991 Torture Victim Protection Act. In his ruling, the Judge stated that “despite the Court’s uneasiness, then, with both the circumstances of bin Salman’s appointment and the credible allegations of his involvement in Khashoggi’s murder, the United States has informed the Court that he is immune.” Weeks earlier, King Salman of Saudi named MBS prime minister in a royal decree and the Biden administration subsequently announced that MBS has immunity under international law from the civil lawsuit as Saudi Arabia’s “sitting head of government.”
“At a time when journalists face increasing dangers around the world, the continued lack of accountability for the killing of Jamal Khashoggi signals that those who attack journalists will be met with indifference no matter the boldness of their crimes”, IPI Director of Advocacy Amy Brouillette said.
She added: “We call for an independent, impartial criminal investigation into this heinous crime. We also urge the international community to raise the stakes for autocratic governments who think they can get away with murdering journalists. We call on all governments that support press freedom to prioritize this case and work toward securing justice for Jamal Khashoggi, his family, and all of his supporters globally who respected his opinions and championed his thoughtful appeals for free expression in the Middle East – a freedom for which he tragically paid the ultimate price.”
