PHOTO: CPJ Advocacy and Communications Director Gypsy Guillén Kaiser speaks at a press conference alongside the family of Shireen Abu Akleh outside of the U.S. Congress. (CPJ)
President Biden’s recent Middle East trip was a key opportunity for his administration to support the cause of press freedom. Before and during the trip, CPJ repeatedly urged the administration not to normalize journalist killings and to demand accountability for the deaths of journalists Jamal Khashoggi and Shireen Abu Akleh.
We spoke with Senior Middle East and North Africa Researcher Justin Shilad to learn more about the trip and how CPJ is addressing impunity in the region.
What is it about Jamal Khashoggi and Shireen Abu Akleh’s cases that make them emblematic for ending impunity not just in the Middle East but around the world?
Jamal Khashoggi and Shireen Abu Akleh were both respected journalists in their fields who used far-reaching platforms to hold the powerful to account. Khashoggi was a Washington Post columnist who covered human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia and the humanitarian toll of the country’s military campaign in Yemen, while Abu Akleh was a veteran Al-Jazeera reporter who brought stories of the hardships Palestinians endure under Israeli occupation to millions of viewers in the region. Both used their prestigious posts to amplify the voices of those who are often not heard.
Abu Akleh was a U.S. citizen, and Khashoggi was a permanent resident, but neither were protected by their U.S. connections. Impunity in their cases sends a grim message to journalists worldwide, particularly those not affiliated with well-known international outlets or without a claim to protection by the world’s most powerful government.
How does President Biden’s recent trip to the Middle East leave journalists in the region more vulnerable?
President Biden’s trip, whether intentionally or not, broadcast the message that politics trump principle. Biden came to office promising to repair the image that the U.S. presents to the world, specifically championing democratic values and human rights, including press freedom. By meeting with leaders in the region–some of whom are the leading jailers of journalists in the world–and not having his engagement contingent on a meaningful path toward accountability for Khashoggi and Abu Akleh’s deaths, Biden treated press freedom in a transactional way, rather than as the life breath of democracy worldwide.
The Israeli government describes itself as the only democracy in the region, and the Saudi government describes itself as undertaking bold and overdue reforms. Neither of these self-descriptions can be squared with the lack of accountability or justice in journalist killings, and at the very least Biden should have said so plainly.
How have CPJ and civil society groups advocated on behalf of Khashoggi and Abu Akleh?
CPJ has worked with the journalists’ family members and colleagues, as well as with partner organizations, to elevate both of their cases with members of the media, the general public, and with policymakers worldwide–but particularly within the U.S. government. Last week, following a meeting between Abu Akleh’s family and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, CPJ joined with Abu Akleh’s family, several partner organizations, and members of Congress to organize a press conference in Washington, D.C., calling for justice in her case.
In her remarks, CPJ Advocacy and Communications Director Gypsy Guillén Kaiser said that the U.S. “must not prioritize power relations over the rights of people. The U.S. must move decisively in its pursuit of an FBI investigation into the killing of its own citizen, Shireen Abu Akleh.”
The U.S. has an obligation to both journalists, given their citizenship and permanent residency, and more importantly, the U.S. government has an obligation to the world to stand by the values it professes, particularly with close allies.