22 Aug 2020; MEMO: US media reported that on Wednesday the Open Society Justice Initiative filed a lawsuit with the office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) requiring it to release intelligence findings about Jamal Khashoggi’s murder.
In the lawsuit, the Open Society Justice Initiative said: “The immediate release of the requested ODNI records is imperative for the public to properly and timely evaluate the US government’s response to Mr Khashoggi’s murder.”
The Open Society Justice Initiative seeks to unveil names of the people who were involved in the murder and those who issued the order to murder the Saudi journalist.
Last year, Voice of America reported that the US Congress approved a measure with bipartisan support requiring the ODNI to provide it with an unclassified report on Khashoggi’s killing, including an account of who was responsible and any individuals who had advance knowledge.
Until now, according to the Middle East Eye, the ODNI has only released a fully classified report. ODNI said in a statement that it will not release the information publicly to protect “sources and methods”.
Speaking to Voice of America, Amrit Singh, a lawyer involved in the Justice Initiative case, said: “There hasn’t been accountability. Despite a mass of evidence that the crown prince was involved, he has essentially escaped accountability.”
Singh reiterated: “It is extremely important that these records be released so that the public knows the truth about who is responsible for the horrific murder of Jamal Khashoggi and so that it can assess for itself the Trump administration’s cover-up of that truth.”
The lawsuit also said: “Senior White House Advisor Jared Kushner has continued to defend the crown prince and describe Saudi Arabia as a ‘very good ally’.”
At the same time, the lawsuit stressed that: “Continuing public debate about Mr Khashoggi’s killing indicates that it remains a matter of urgent interest to the public.”
UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions Agnès Callamard said in a report last year that evidence she has gathered in the course of her inquiry suggests that Saudi Arabia is responsible for the extrajudicial killing of Khashoggi.
Callamard stressed that there was: “Credible evidence warranting further investigation, of high-level Saudi officials’ individual liability, including that of the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia (Mohammed Bin-Salman) and of his key adviser, Saud Al-Qahtani.”
