WASHINGTON – Later today at 3 p.m. ET, Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN) plans to join representatives of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and CodePink to host a virtual news conference to offer a response to the White House release of an intelligence report concluding that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the 2018 killing of Washington Post journalist and Virginia resident Jamal Khashoggi.
That report states: “We assess that Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman approved an operation in Istanbul, Turkey to capture or kill Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.”
SEE: Assessing the Saudi Government’s Role in the Killing of Jamal K.hashoggi
WHAT: Press Conference Responding to Release of U.S. Intelligence Report on Murder of Washington Post Journalist Jamal Khashoggi
WHEN: 3 p.m. ET
WHERE: Washington, D.C.
LIVESTREAM: CAIR Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/CAIRNational
CONTACT: CAIR Director of Government Affairs Department Robert S. McCaw, 202-999-8292, rmcccaw@cair.com
News Conference participants will also react to reports that the United States will this afternoon announce actions taken in response to Khashoggi’s murder.
ACCORDING TO REUTERS: “U.S. State Department has informed lawmakers that it will announce actions taken in response to the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at 2:30 pm EST (1930 GMT) on Friday, a congressional source said.”
SEE: State to Announce Actions in Response to Khashoggi Killing at 2:30 Pm: Source
ACCORDING TO BLOOMBERG: “The Biden administration is identifying 76 Saudi Arabian individuals who may be subject to sanctions under what it’s calling its new ‘Khashoggi policy.”
SEE: U.S. to Apply Sanctions on 76 Saudis Under ‘Khashoggi Policy’
“With the release of this report the U.S must now hold Mohammed bin Salman and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia accountable for the brutal murder of Washington Post contributor, U.S. resident and human rights activist Jamal Khashoggi,” said CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad. “The U.S. government must continue to recalibrate its relations with Saudi Arabia – a government that violates the human rights of its own citizens and neighbors. As a nation we must commit to not selling a dollar’s worth of weapons to Saudi Arabia, much less billions of advanced and deadly weaponry.”
BACKGROUNDER:
Khashoggi, a critic of the Saudi Arabia government’s human rights abuses and restrictions on political freedom under Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman, wrote columns for The Washington Post. He was murdered and dismembered in October 2018 after being lured to the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul by Saudi agents.
According to a recent report by CNN: “The two private jets used by a Saudi Arabian assassination squad that killed and allegedly dismembered journalist Jamal Khashoggi were owned by a company that less than a year prior had been seized by the Kingdom’s powerful crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman.”
SEE: ‘Top Secret’ Saudi documents show Khashoggi assassins used company seized by Saudi crown prince
On January 14, D.C. Councilmember Brooke Pinto introduced a measure that seeks to rename the street in front of the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Washington, D.C., after Khashoggi and would designate New Hampshire Ave NW between Virginia Ave NW and F St NW as “Jamal Khashoggi Way.”
CAIR is America’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance understanding of Islam, protect civil rights, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.
La misión de CAIR es proteger las libertades civiles, mejorar la comprensión del Islam, promover la justicia, y empoderar a los musulmanes en los Estados Unidos.
