Exiled AIT presenter attends Khashoggi’s remembrance in Washington

Journalists and human rights activists assembled in Washington on  Wednesday to mark the one year anniversary of the killing of Jamal Khashoggi.   

Khashoggi, a Saudi dissident and journalist with Washington Post who was on exile in the US, was killed, with his body allegedly dismembered.

The tragic incident took place at the Saudi consulate in Turkey where he had gone to get some documents.

In a report, Washington Post highlighted how people showered encomiums on Khashoggi.

Ohimai Amaize, an AIT presenter who is currently on exile, was at the event. He was quoted to have described Khashoggi’s killing as an increasing threat to journalists worldwide from an increasing number of regimes.

“The people who killed him have not been brought to book. It’s a tragic reminder that journalists anywhere in the world really are not safe,” he said, adding that journalists have to keep talking and step up advocacy for the protection of journalists. 

Amaize left the country earlier in the year when the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) clamped down on AIT over some “unfavourable reports”.

Amaize was one of the presenters on Kakaaki, a breakfast programme on the television station.

At the event, Dokhi Fassihian, executive director of Reporters Without Borders in North America, was quoted to have described Khashoggi as a deeply thoughtful, introspective and courageous man who showed great care and love for his country and fellow Arabian citizens.

“He raised his voice to criticize the Saudi government’s persecution of the media, of women and for those who fought for human rights and democracy in Saudi Arabia. The murder of Jamal Khashoggi is an atrocity and deeply painful loss … to the larger Arab world who looked to him as a source of hope in dark times,” he said. 

John Donnelly, chairman of the National Press Club’s Press Freedom Committee, reportedly said: “silence is not how we at the National Press Club have been responding to Jamal’s killing. To the contrary, we have been as loud as possible, for as long as possible, and we intend to keep it that way.” 

Directing his words at Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi crown prince who has been alleged to be in the know of Khashoggi’s death, Donnelly said “you may think you have impunity for your crime and the world will forget and move on, but as long as Jamal’s fellow reporters have anything to say about it, his inspirational life and his awful death at your bloody hands will never be forgotten.” 

The event was organised by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), which is reportedly suing the U.S. government for the release of documents that could show whether the intelligence community had information on threats to Khashoggi. 

In September, audio recordings between Khashoggi and the hit squad that killed him were revealed.