Khashoggi’s Killers ‘Must Be Held to Account’

Last year was the worst on record for violence and abuse toward journalists. Dozens were killed, including Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi journalist allegedly murdered by a Saudi hit squad at the country’s consulate in Istanbul. More than nine months later, Riyadh deflects responsibility for his death: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, widely known as MbS, continues to represent the country without much consequence, though a UN report said there was “credible evidence” to link him and others to the killing.

At a gathering of reporters, activists, and foreign leaders at the Global Conference for Media Freedom, in London, the journalist’s death was on center stage. “When Jamal Khashoggi, Washington Post columnist, was tortured to death and dismembered by Saudi Arabian officials in Istanbul, world leaders responded with little more than a collective shrug,” Amal Clooney, the British Foreign Office’s special envoy on media freedom, told the conference’s 1,000 attendees. “Signing pledges and making speeches is not enough,” she added.

Among those in the audience was Agnès Callamard, the United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions, and the director of the Global Freedom of Expression Project at Columbia University. Callamard was the author of the UN report that linked MbS to Khashoggi’s killing. In an interview with The Atlantic, she shared her thoughts on what justice for Khashoggi should look like, how governments can better protect journalists, and the role these conferences can play.

This interview