Status: 06/16/2022 10:15 a.m
A month ahead of US President Biden’s planned trip to Saudi Arabia, Washington named a street after murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The location of the street was not chosen at random.
The US capital Washington has renamed the street opposite the Saudi Arabian embassy “Jamal Khashoggi Way” – after the journalist murdered in 2018 on behalf of the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, according to US secret services. The street will serve as a memorial “so that the memory of Jamal Khashoggi can never be stifled,” Washington City Council Chairman Phil Mendelson said at the ceremony.
symbolic act
The renaming of the street came a day after US President Joe Biden’s trip to Saudi Arabia was announced in mid-July. However, it is more of a symbolic nature. Because instead of the green street sign that is common in Washington, Jamal Khashoggi’s name is on a brown one. This will not change the postal address of the Saudi Arabian embassy. However, the sign should remain permanently as a memorial.
It’s not the first time the Washington City Council has used street names in international protest. The Russian embassy is located in Boris Nemtsov Plaza, named after the opposition politician who was killed within sight of the Kremlin in 2015.
“Murder of Our Friend”
Sarah Leah Whitson of Dawn, a pro-Arab pro-democracy organization that Khashoggi founded before his death, saw the action as a warning to the Saudi Arabian leadership in Riyadh. Khashoggi had to die “because he dared to defy the tyranny of Mohammed bin Salman”.
Our intention is to remind the people hiding behind these doors that we hold them responsible for our friend’s murder.
But Whitson also addressed critical words to the US government: She accused the government of President Biden of “shameless capitulation” with a view to his trip to Saudi Arabia.
Tawakkol Karman, a Yemeni activist and 2011 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, also said at the ceremony that the president’s upcoming visit to Saudi Arabia means “Biden has abandoned his commitment to defending human rights around the world.”
Energy crisis changes situation
In fact, Biden’s actions in relation to Saudi Arabia have changed in recent months: After taking office, the Biden government released an intelligence report that the Saudi Arabian crown prince and de facto ruler approved Khashoggi’s assassination in 2018. Riyadh rejects this and assures that the Saudi Arabian perpetrators acted on their own initiative. Given the global energy crisis because of the Ukraine war US President Biden recently tried to improve relations with the oil-rich state.
Khashoggi murdered in Istanbul consulate
Khashoggi went to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018 to collect documents for his marriage to his Turkish fiancé. He never came out again. After lengthy denials, the leadership in Riyadh, under international pressure, admitted that Khashoggi had been killed at the consulate in a failed attempt to bring him back to his homeland.
The CIA later concluded that he was on Murdered and dismembered by order of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Khashoggi hatte worked as a columnist for the “Washington Post” in US exile and written critical texts about the Saudi royal family.