OSCE Media Freedom Representative pays tribute to assassinated journalist Jamal Khashoggi on one-year anniversary

VIENNA, 1 October 2019 – The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Harlem Désir, paid tribute today to Jamal Khashoggi, a prominent Saudi journalist who was brutally murdered one year ago, recalling the urgent need to fight against impunity of crimes committed against journalists.

“At a time when the safety of journalists has drastically deteriorated worldwide in the last several years, impunity for attacks on journalists is unacceptable. It is crucial, in order to safeguard the role of journalists and media freedom, that the perpetrators and those behind this horrendous crime are identified and face justice. Impunity of perpetrators of such attacks and the passivity in investigating and failing to publicly condemn these murders breeds further violence. On this day of the one year anniversary of Jamal Khashoggi’s murder, we remember all other recently killed journalists, including in the OSCE region. The spread of violence against journalists across the globe is a threat to our core democratic values,” said Désir.

On 2 October 2018, Khashoggi, a contributor to the Washington Post, visited the Consulate of Saudi Arabia in Istanbul where he was executed. His body was reportedly dismembered and removed from the building, and his remains have not been found. Eleven Saudi suspects were put on trial in secretive proceedings on 3 January 2019, but only a few hearings have been held since. 

The Representative noted that a number of media freedom and human rights organizations, including Reporters Without Borders, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the Committee to Protect Journalists and Article 19 will join Khashoggi’s fiancée, his friends and UN Special Rapporteur Agnès Callamard in front of the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on 2 October to commemorate the first anniversary of his murder.