IFJ Executive reinforces calls for international action to hold Saudi government accountable for Khashoggi murder

The Executive Committee of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has repeated its strong condemnation of the gruesome murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, on 2 October 2018 by Saudi government operatives.

Meeting in Ramallah, Palestine, the IFJ’s governing body denounced the attempts by senior officials of Saudi government to initially deny Khashoggi’s whereabouts to cover up his murder.

IFJ Executive Committee members stressed that this “sickening murder of a critical journalist will set a dangerous precedence - if the full truth about this murder is not uncovered and all those who ordered and carried out this heinous crime are not held to account, oppressive governments the world over will see it as a green light to commit such unforgivable crimes against a journalist”.

Backing the calls made by the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion & expression Mr. David Kaye and Dr. Agnes Callamard, UN Special Rapporteur on Extra-Judicial Executions, the IFJ Executive Committee repeated calls for the rapid establishment of a UN-led investigation to help bring those responsible for this heinous crime to justice.

In light of the gravity of this premeditated murder and comments by US President Donald Trump accepting the Saudi version of events, the IFJ urges “the inter-governmental organisations such as the United Nations (UN), European Union (EU), G7 and G20 to hold the Saudi government and its top leadership to account for the now confirmed murder of Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi government officials, and reject any political cover up of this murder”.

The IFJ motion also extended its solidarity to Saudi journalists and advocates of freedom of expression in the Kingdom, and demanded that “Saudi Government to allow Saudi and non-Saudi journalists to carry out their journalism work in the Kingdom freely and without any restrictions, and to release all those detained for exercising their right to freedom of expression”.

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The IFJ represents more than 600,000 journalists in 146 countries

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