Kasogi, a U.S. citizen who wrote for the Washington Post, was killed, dismembered and dumped at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018. US intelligence believes the assassination was ordered by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed. He denies it. Biden had called Riyadh a “pariah” over murder and other human rights abuses, but with the average US gas price now just over $ 5 and given other geopolitical priorities, he is now seeking to re-engage. On Wednesday, the new Washington sign was unveiled shortly after 1.14 p.m. ET, at the time Kasogi entered the consulate of Saudi Arabia. A statement was read out by Hatice Cengiz’s fiancée. He called on Biden to answer for his hypocrisy and demand answers about the whereabouts of her fiancé. The statement said: “Today, in this happy but very formal occasion, I have two messages. My first message is to Jamal. Dear Jamal, the ideas and values you lost your life defending have been celebrated worldwide and continue to spread in the region and the world. “My second message is to President Joe Biden. Mr Biden, you will soon be visiting Saudi Arabia as President, where you will meet the heartless executioner of Jamal, dishonoring yourself and Jamal… Mr President, please do not lose your moral authority and ignore this heinous crime . You must keep your oath to bring to justice all the perpetrators of this heinous crime. “As frustrating as this is, if you have to put oil above principles and expediency above values, you can at least ask, ‘Where is Jamal’s body?’ Does not he deserve a proper burial? “And what happened to his killers?” “Also ask about the hundreds of other political prisoners who are rotting in Saudi prisons and victims of violent repression such as Jamal, who have suffered greatly under a repressive regime.” Also present at the unveiling were Khalid Al-Jabri, the son of a former Saudi intelligence chief whose brothers, Sarah and Omar, are being held captive by the Saudi regime. He described the unveiling of the Jamal Khashoggi Way sign as “a very important symbolic gesture that would remind people of the horrific murder of Jamal Khashoggi in a diplomatic mission”. Al-Jabri said that while he believed it was impossible for the United States to sever ties with Saudi Arabia altogether, there should be responsibility for human rights abuses. In an interview with the Guardian, Al-Jabri said: “Biden has made it clear that there will be no immediate consequences for MBS. [Prince Mohammed] for the assassination of Kasogi. Unfortunately, this equates to a presidential pardon for assassination, and the MBS would see it as Biden’s permission to kill more Kasogi. “All he has to do is do it without leaving fingerprints. But accountability matters. The closest thing to taking responsibility is to make sure that the repression that Jamal died exposing will cease to exist. “The fact is that there are American hostages in Saudi Arabia and you can not abandon your citizens depending on which dictators hold them hostage.”
