US lawmaker calls on Congress to end Saudi impunity over Khashoggi murder

US Congressman Gerry Connolly has urged American lawmakers to approve an amendment to the annual defense spending bill with the aim of ending Saudi Arabia’s impunity over the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

“We know that some of the killers were trained here in the United States, demonstrating an overwhelming need for changes to our current arms sales processes, increased accountability and reforms in who and how we train foreign nationals in other militaries here in the United States,” Connolly said.

He made the remarks on Thursday, just two days before the third anniversary of Khashoggi’s killing, at an event hosted by Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), an organization Khashoggi founded.

“We are not going to allow the memory of Jamal Khashoggi to fade, and we’re going to insist on justice,” he insisted, according to the Middle East Eye.

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Khashoggi was murdered by agents of the Saudi government in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018, after being lured to the consulate building on the pretext of providing him with papers for his upcoming wedding. In the consulate, he was suffocated and dismembered while his fiancée was waiting outside for him. His remains have not been found.

US President Joe Bide initially took a harsh tone on human rights issues in Saudi Arabia, vowing to make the Saudis “pay the price, and make them in fact the pariah that they are” when campaigning for president last year.

While Biden finally published an assessment by US intelligence agencies that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman (MBS) personally ordered the murder of Khashoggi, he later cited “national interests” for not punishing Mohammed bin Salman.

However, the Biden administration has found itself under mounting pressure to cut off arms sales to Saudi Arabia over the killing and the kingdom’s efforts to intimidate and silence dissidents abroad.

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“We have always known, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman directed the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi,” Connolly said. “We also know that this operation is part of a broad and ongoing effort to use violence to intimidate and silence dissidents abroad.”

Earlier this year, Connolly sponsored a bill in the US House of Representatives that sets limits on arms sales to the kingdom unless the US president periodically certifies to Congress that Riyadh has not targeted dissidents in other countries, imprisoned foreign citizens unjustly, or tortured detainees.

The legislation, called the Protection of Saudi Dissidents Act of 2021, passed the House in April, but it must pass through the Senate before it becomes law.

Connolly also said that Saudi Arabia had been repeatedly “shielded from responsibility” by the Trump administration, which bypassed Congress to sell roughly $8bn in precision-guided missiles and other high-tech weapons to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

“When we turn a blind eye to human rights abuses we embolden friend and foe alike who continue engage in these violations,” Connolly said. “We must end this two-year pageant of impunity and hold Saudi Arabia accountable for its treatment of dissidents and those who stand up for human rights.”

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