To mark the one-year anniversary of Jamal Khashoggi’s brutal murder, POMED and 12 other human rights and press freedom organizations held a public event on Capitol Hill to commemorate Jamal’s life, to call for accountability, and to cast a light on the Saudi government’s repression of those who are perceived to be critical of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and his regime.

Thursday, September 26, 2019
9:00 am – 11:00 am

Dirksen Senate Office Building, Room G-11
50 Constitution Ave NE, Washington, DC

Featuring

Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ)

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA)

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT)

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD)

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR)

Rep. Steve Chabot (R-VA)

Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA)

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA)

Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-NJ)

Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA)

Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN)

U.N. Special Rapporteur Agnès Callamard

Lina Al-Hathloul

Areej Al Sadhan

Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson (Ret.)

Veteran U.S. Naval Flight Officer Colin Raunig

Sponsored by

Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain
Amnesty International
Article 19
Committee to Protect Journalists
Freedom House
The Freedom Initiative
Human Rights First
Human Rights Watch
James W. Foley Legacy Foundation
PEN America
Project on Middle East Democracy
Reporters Without Borders
Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights

With

Monica Zuraw, Americans for Human Rights & Democracy in Bahrain
Philippe Nassif, Amnesty International
Justin Shilad, Committee to Protect Journalists
Margaux Ewen, James W. Foley Legacy Foundation
Andrea Prasow, Human Rights Watch
Karin Deutsch Karlekar, PEN America
Stephen McInerney, Project on Middle East Democracy

Below are excerpts from some of the speakers at the event.

[5:15] Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD):
We’re not going to rest until the crown prince and others are held accountable for this murder, because failure to hold him accountable in the long run breeds this impunity, a sense that you can get away literally with murder. And that puts American residents at risk, American citizens at risk, and it puts journalists around the world at risk, and people who are living in these authoritarian countries who are fighting every day for their rights.

[9:48] Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA):
Jamal Khashoggi was a constituent, he was a Virginia resident. His children are not just residents, but citizens of the United States, and citizens of Virginia. He was a journalist. He’s not the only Virginian who has been treated harshly by the Saudi government. Aziz al-Yousef, the prominent women’s rights activist who was imprisoned because of her role in organizing campaigns for example for the radical notion that women should be able to drive or that women should not be subject to the guardianship rules that disable them from making the common everyday decisions of life. Aziz al-Yousef studied at the Virginia Commonwealth University. Her son is a U.S. citizen who is a Virginia resident. He’s also been imprisoned for his role in trying to help women’s rights activists.

[17:48] Representative Steve Chabot (R-OH):
I never had the pleasure to meet Jamal, but I know that he was an independent voice who tirelessly urged greater openness and reform no matter the cost, and, as we now know, it ultimately cost him his very life… I would ask that we all pause and not only remember Jamal but also remember all the other countless journalists across the globe who are still being persecuted for merely attempting to tell the truth.

[21:50] Agnès Callamard, UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions:
The grave implication of the crimes extend in my view far beyond the authority of the courtroom alone, and other pathways must be pursued: political, economic, symbolic. Justice in the short term; justice in the long term. And justice of this order takes time. A single year’s effort is but the first phase in this journey… No country should be able to buy their way out of accountability, no matter their influence, strategic relevance, no matter the nature of their friendship.

[32:40] Representative Gerry Connolly (D-VA):
It speaks horrible volumes about Saudi government that it would go to such incredible lengths to take out a moderate voice of change. It shows an insecurity that ought to give everybody pause about the stability of the Saudi government. It also says to us that our work must continue not only for justice for Jamal but for freedom of the press. Is every member of the press who dares to criticize another government, even if it’s their own government, at risk of their lives in such a brutal and grizzly fashion?

[41:12] Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ):
The murder of Jamal Khashoggi will be remembered as the straw that broke the camel’s back. The Saudis should have known that brazenly murdering an American resident and journalist would trigger a fundamental reexamination of the U.S. relationship with Saudi Arabia. The refusal of President Trump to hold those responsible for Khashoggi’s death accountable, including Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman, has turned this crime into an assault on fundamental American values—like freedom of the press, democracy, and the rule of law.

[48:29] Representative Tom Malinowski (D-NJ):
This was not just an awful, horrific crime committed against one man, albeit a man who was known and cared for by many people in this room. This was an affront to the United States of America; it was an attack on freedom of expression; it was an assault on the idea that if a dissident finds safe exile in a third country that they should be, in fact, safe from extraterritorial killing.

[55:47] Representative Jim McGovern (D-MA):
Here’s the bottom line. Instead of justice for Jamal, this administration is helping the Saudi government get away with murder. They ought to be ashamed of themselves. They are complicit, based on their inaction. They don’t just have blood on their hands, they have blood up to their elbows. There comes a point when Congress must stand up and insist on consequences for such brutality, for operating so far outside the norms of international behavior. And it is not just Jamal, it is so many dissidents that are in Saudi prisons, who have no business being in Saudi prisons. We demand that they be released immediately.

[1:01:25] Lina Al-Hathloul, sister of detained human rights activist Loujain Al-Hathloul:
I mean, it was not a democracy before that, but there was more space in the public sphere for citizens to ask for reforms… Basically, it is really becoming a police state. What can you do about it? Talk about it every time Saudi Arabia is in the subject. Talk about these arrests. Ask questions, call for action. Most importantly, I beg you, never forget.

[1:06:10] Areej Al Sadhan, sister of detained Red Crescent employee Abdulrahman Al Sadhan:
I ask world leaders and human rights organizations to have a stronger stand against these violations. And as an American citizen, I kindly ask for your help and to demand the Saudis to allow us to have access to my brother. To check on him and to ask for his immediate and unconditional release, to join his family, as we all have suffered enough. Also, to hold those involved in exercising enforced disappearance and torture of my brother and others accountable for their inhumane actions.

[1:11:51] Col. Lawrence Wilkerson (Ret.):
We are latched to, we are allied with, one of the bloodiest tyrants on the face of the Earth. And the things that I had to do my planning for in the ’80s and ’90s—like oil, and buying U.S. dollars, and denominating oil sales in dollars, and buying U.S. treasuries and so forth—are no longer adequate rationalization for that alliance. They simply aren’t. Not when the kinds of things that are happening today are happening… We need, desperately even, to begin to distance ourselves from this kingdom, we need to distance ourselves from what it represents and what it does, particularly in this brutal war in Yemen, and we need to readjust our sights accordingly. And that’s from a military professional turned diplomat.

[1:19:35] Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR):
So, we’re going to try to finally get the Director of National Intelligence to tell us what they know, so we can hold this administration and the crown prince accountable… Normally Senators say that they’re for something, but when the administration stonewalls that’s pretty much the end of the discussion. Well, if they stonewall, they are in for a fight they will remember for the rest of their lives.

[1:25:55] Representative Dean Phillips (D-MN):
We cannot let a murder such as his go unaccounted for, we must hold Saudi Arabia responsible and accountable for the horrific action. We must refuse to support the Saudi government’s suppression of its critics, and we must use our relationship with Saudi Arabia to strengthen human rights and freedom of information. Most importantly, we cannot let a sacrifice such as Jamal’s go to waste. We must continue to work for what he stood for every single day, supporting free press all around the world, including in this country, fighting corruption and disinformation, and always seeking out and exposing the truth.

[1:28:00] Colin Raunig, veteran U.S. naval flight officer:
We must redouble our efforts to bring the assassins, and the leaders who sent them, and the countries that they represent to justice. America’s integrity must not be up for sale. The protection of America should not stop at our borders.

[1:35:38] Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT):
You have to do something to deserve to be an ally of the United States. And my take was that Saudi Arabia for a very long time had been doing far too many things that were contrary to both U.S. national security interests and our values sets that should cause us to reevaluate the nature of that friendship. What I didn’t know at the time was that the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was not limiting their campaign of repression to the territory inside their borders. That in fact they were chasing down dissenters and journalists all over the world to try to intimidate and bully them into adopting the royal family’s line. I was really saddened when I saw our Secretary of State travel to Riyadh to meet with the Crown Prince after the revelations regarding the murder came to light. The Saudis should be coming to us to apologize for kidnapping a journalist under U.S. protection rather than the world watching us travel there to present a smiling press conference in an attempt to paper over this gross violation of human rights.

[1:43:37] Representative Ro Khanna (D-CA):
Mr. Khashoggi was murdered because he spoke out against the catastrophic war in Yemen. He had the guts to call out Saudi barbarity in Yemen, which could be one of the largest famines in world history. And the way to honor him is to insist on stopping the war in Yemen.

On April 9, 2019, just before President Trump’s White House meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, POMED joined with 11 other human rights and democracy organizations to host a public event on Capitol Hill about Egypt’s troubling trajectory. Speakers, including six members of the U.S. Congress, called attention to areas of deep concern in Egypt and the need for the United States to speak out and act on behalf of its values. Below are excerpts from some of the speakers at the event.

Tuesday, April 9, 2019
8:30 am – 10:30 am
Russell Senate Office Building, Room 485
2 Constitution Ave NE, Washington, DC

Featuring

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT)

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD)

Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO)

Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-NJ)

Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA)

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN)

Khaled Abol Naga, award-winning actor

April Corley (taped remarks)

Sponsored by

Amnesty International  •  Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies  •  Committee to Protect Journalists

The Council for Global Equality  •  The Egyptian Human Rights Forum  •  Freedom House

The Freedom Initiative  •  Human Rights Campaign  •  Human Rights First

Human Rights Watch  •  PEN America  •  Project on Middle East Democracy

With

Rob Berschinski, Human Rights First

Julie Dorf, Council for Global Equality

Moataz El Fegiery, Egyptian Human Rights Forum

Neil Hicks, Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies

Sherif Mansour, Committee to Protect Journalists

Sarah Margon, Human Rights Watch

Thomas O. Melia, PEN America

Stephen McInerney, Project on Middle East Democracy

– Remark Excerpts of Some Event Speakers – 

Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD): 

As President Trump rolls out the red carpet and welcomes President al-Sisi to the White House today, it’s important that those of us in Congress speak out about what is really happening in Egypt and what President al-Sisi is really up to. And I’m pleased that we were able to have that bipartisan letter signed by a good group of senators, because what we say in the letter is our effort to tell the truth as to what’s happening in Egypt: we know that al-Sisi has overseen terrible human rights abuses; he has tortured and killed hundreds and hundreds of Egyptians; and it’s reported that over 20,000 Egyptian citizens are currently in jail. There are also, among those who are in jail, 20 American citizens, and so when President al-Sisi comes to the White House I hope President Trump will ask him about those 20 jailed American citizens and also ask him about what he’s doing to his own people, who he is indiscriminately locking up.

We also have to speak out against the proposals—the constitutional amendments—that President al-Sisi is trying to push through in Egypt. He already has amassed a lot of power, but this is just another blatant power grab to deny the Egyptian people the opportunity for democracy for decades to come.

Representative Tom Malinowski (D-NJ): 

Whatever may be said on other side of Pennsylvania Avenue today, I think it’s pretty clear that the President does not speak for the United States, he does not speak for the United States Congress, certainly, in terms of our perception of what is going on in Egypt. The vast majority of us care about the journalists and activists who are in prison in Egypt today; we care about those kids who are being tortured and radicalized in those prisons; we care about American citizens who are being brazenly detained by this regime for nothing more than their associations and political views; we care about April Corley, and we care about the despicable way in which the Government of Egypt has treated her and, by extension, the despicable way in which they treat the United States of America. 

Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT): 

If Egypt continues in this direction, the future is predictable, and it’s ominous. Rather than becoming a modern, stable, and prosperous country—which it could—it will become increasingly divided and unstable. By imprisoning anyone who has the courage to call for more freedom of expression and political pluralism, President al-Sisi is creating a whole new generation of extremists. It’s long past time for the U.S. to use our influence with Egypt, including tying our military aid to reforms that protect the fundamental rights of the Egyptian people. Let them know what we stand for, even if they don’t stand for human rights, let them know that we do. If we don’t, then we stand complicit with a military dictatorship that contradicts the most basic ideals and principles that our country stands for. 

Representative Jason Crow (D-CO): 

The Arab spring showed us just how much Egyptians share our values of democracy, human rights, and equality. Yet President Sisi has continued to pursue policies that fly in the face of that: limiting the independence of the judiciary, restricting opposition political parties, and marginalizing women and minorities. It is time now to stand up for our country’s values and to call out Sisi’s anti-democratic power grab. 

Representative Jim McGovern (D-MA): 

Sadly the United States, when it comes to human rights, sends mixed signals. When it comes to our adversaries—say Venezuela or Iran—the [Trump] administration cannot say enough to criticize those countries. But when it comes to Egypt, and other countries the President wants to make nice with, Trump says nothing. We need a reset… Systematic human rights violations and the rise of strongmen should concern us always and everywhere. We need to return to the days when the United States led diplomatically in strong support of human rights and democracy without punishing citizens in the process.

The ongoing human rights abuses and the turn toward authoritarianism in Egypt should be top concerns for the United States’ foreign policy, both because repression on such a scale is morally wrong and because instability in Egypt is not in the U.S. interest.

Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN):

We know that religious minorities, especially the Coptic Christians, have been in more dangerous situations under Sisi than previous administrations. That’s why I am a proud co-sponsor of House Resolution 49 to insist on the protection for religious minorities in Egypt. We are here united to say no, no to Sisi’s power grab…no ally is above reproach. In a modern world, our relationship with Egypt needs to be put under greater scrutiny. We should not be enabling broad scale human rights violations. We should not continue to send $1.3 billion in aid to Egypt without questioning the suppression of speech, of human rights work, and of political dissent. 

April Corley, U.S. national champion in roller skating and victim of attack by Egypt’s military:

My hope is that President Trump won’t sell the new Apaches until Egypt takes responsibility for what it did… I hope that what happened to me never happens to anyone ever again. 

Khaled Abol Naga, award-winning Egyptian actor:

I have never been more proud of anything I have done than to be one of millions to march for bread, freedom, and social justice in 2011. I would have never thought in my worst nightmares that we end up today with a regime that makes sure Egyptians today would end up with no bread, no freedom, no social justice, and on top of that, not even dignity. Today, Egyptians are behind bars—most of those young Egyptians from Tahrir square, that we were all so proud of and that most of the world was so proud of, are behind bars in prisons or behind bars of fear. This is a regime that is trying to make us all be afraid.

EVENT PHOTOS