How to honor Jamal: free the ones not murdered yet.
Along with pushing the Senate to take action related to Jamal Khashoggi’s killing — Global Magnitsky Act, halt the war with Yemen — I am pushing to have the names of individual dissidents who are disappeared or imprisoned called out. If we can leverage this moment to force Saudi Arabia to allow these people to speak out freely and safely, that would be huge. Jamal wrote movingly about the need for freedom of expression in the Arab world. And not only Saudi — Turkey, Iran, Egypt, all places where people are in danger for speaking out. That would be something, and it is possible if our Senators and Representatives have the will to do it.
Since I posted this open letter, I got a call from a member of Senator Flake’s staff saying that they would pursue strong and immediate action against Saudi Arabia when the senate got back into session. Well, that’s tomorrow.
I wrote a follow-up trying to hold them to it, tracking the ongoing conversation here: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/11/12/1812113/-Open-Dialog-with-Senate-staff-Global-Magnitsky-Act-for-Khashoggi-s-killers-stop-war-on-Yemen
I hope the Democratic house will do more, but the thing is this needs to happen now because its when the National Defence Authorization Act is passed every year. So we can’t sit around waiting.
Original story:
Nearly everyone has heard of the grisly murder of Jamal Khashoggi. But despite the news coverage, nothing has been done, no action taken against the regime or the perpetrators. And they are continuing to brazenly imprison and kill dissidents, as well as to repress any information critical of the regime.
I have been following the twitter feed of Omar Abdulaziz, Jamal’s friend, and it is horrifying what is happening on a daily basis — his family has been taken, other dissidents are disappearing and at least one is now believed killed. The public attention span is short, and despite the collective horror of the world, the perpetrators — most likely directed by Mohammed bin Salman (MBS)- have realized they can quite literally get away with murder.
Despite the apparent complicity of the Trump administration in accepting the cover story, it may be possible for something to be done. I am in Arizona, and I am not holding my breath for Sen Flake’s response, though I did get a contact in his Arizona office. More promising is Sen Cardin, whose DC office immediately gave me a contact who handles human rights and is familiar with applying pressure through the Magnitsky act. I also contacted Sen Wicker in Mississippi, a long shot but I heard he was helpful to Afghani interpreters who were being killed after being left behind. The letter, sent to the three staffers, is below. I’m sure it could be phrased more powerfully and suggestions are welcome.
To (staff members of Sens Flake, Cardin and Wicker):
The Jamal Khashoggi case has fallen out of the news cycle, but it seems that other dissidents are being brutally targeted in its wake, and the regime seems emboldened by a lack of response in the West.
Khashoggi was reported to be partnering with Omar Abdulaziz on a project to help Saudi dissidents get information out of the country. Since then I have been following Omar’s twitter feed, and he reports that his brothers are being beaten and possibly tortured, that his friends have been disappeared, and in particular that he believes fellow dissident Turki Al-Jasser has been killed. He lists as well
Egyptian singer Amal Maher
Khalid al-Alqamy
Sulaiman Al-Duweesh Safar Al-Hawali
Abdulrahman al-Sadhan
as having disappeared or been imprisoned in the days since Jamal’s murder. It seems incomprehensible to me that even after this murder, nothing is being done and they are brazenly murdering other, less well known, dissidents.
I do not have more specific evidence, but Omar may.
https://twitter.com/oamaz7/status/1055497107401068545
https://twitter.com/oamaz7/status/1053537166809272321
https://twitter.com/JohnSimpsonNews/status/1053941739021631489
Is there anything we can do to prevent additional deaths or to get Omar’s family released?
I understand this may not be enough information to be actionable, but are there steps we can take to stop the killing of dissidents, meant to intimidate all others from speaking out?
It can’t be that there is nothing to do.
Can someone respond and let me know what the next steps are? I am not experienced in this kind of advocacy but there has to be something.
Thank you
It seems so crazy to just sit and let these things happen. Again, suggestions for being more effective welcome.
Update: On Thursday Nov 1 I did receive a callback from a member of Sen Flake’s DC staff, who told me that the Senate would be taking the lead on sanctions and response to Khashoggi’s murder, and that the response would include application of the Global Magnitsky Act up to and possibly including MBS. We will see what happens.
I asked them to consider mentioning the specific names of the dissidents currently in danger, he said that wasn’t planned but could possibly be discussed.
