[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 159 (Friday, October 4, 2019)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1250]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 REMEMBERING JAMAL KHASHOGGI, RESPECTED AND HEROIC JOURNALIST, LOVING 
                FATHER, AND RELENTLESS PURSUER OF TRUTH

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. SHEILA JACKSON LEE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, October 4, 2019

  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Madam Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the life of 
Jamal Khashoggi, an American national and resilient journalist who was 
murdered by members of the Saudi Arabian government on October 2, 2018.
  The First Amendment of the United States Constitution grants freedom 
of speech and freedom of the press.
  I would like to note that the press is the only commercial enterprise 
enshrined in the Constitution, giving Americans an independent press.
  This is something that is often taken for granted, freedom of the 
press is not given to citizens in many parts of the world.
  Jamal Khashoggi was born on October 13, 1958, in Medina, Saudi 
Arabia.
  Jamal Khashoggi attended Indiana State University and received his BA 
in business administration in 1983.
  Jamal Khashoggi did not dream of becoming a Saudi Arabian dissident, 
he did not want to be forced into a self-imposed exile; however, it was 
what he had to do to continue to live.
  As a journalist, Jamal Khashoggi wanted to report on the facts and 
truths, not to dismiss the injustice that occurred, especially in his 
home nation.
  Jamal Khashoggi wrote for and edited newspapers in Saudi Arabia and 
served as an aide in Saudi embassies in Washington and London.
  After leaving Saudi Arabia, Jamal Khashoggi published his first op-ed 
in the Washington Post in September 2017, explaining why he and others 
had gone into self-imposed exile out of fear of being arrested in Saudi 
Arabia.
  For the next year, Jamal Khashoggi continued writing articles 
criticizing Saudi Arabian involvement in the war in Yemen, the 
imprisonment of women who campaigned for women's rights, and revealed 
the strict control of the Saudi Arabian government on news and social 
media.
  On October 2, 2018, Jamal Khashoggi was enticed into entering the 
Saudi consulate in Istanbul for an appointment to obtain a document he 
needed to marry his Turkish fiancee.
  Knowing Jamal Khashoggi was scheduled to arrive at the consulate, 15 
Saudi agents who had flown in hours earlier met him, killed, 
dismembered, and disposed of his body which has yet to be found.
  Journalists must be protected, the right to a free press must be 
protected.
  However, Trump and his allies have blocked attempts in Congress to 
hold the Saudi Arabian regime accountable for their actions.
  The United States House of Representatives passed H. Res. 2037 for 
which I voted, condemning the Saudi Arabian government for the murder 
and execution, but the current administration continues to steer clear 
of assigning blame and bringing the killers to justice.
  The impotent reaction from our Administration signals to strongmen 
everywhere that they can terrorize their people--and mock the United 
States--with impunity.
  The citizens of the world have not forgotten what happened to Jamal 
Khashoggi, and they will never forget.
  Jamal Khashoggi was a loving father of four to Salah, Abdullah, Noha, 
and Razan Jamal, and a fiancee to Hatice Cengiz, the woman who waited 
outside of the consulate that fateful day.
  We will forever be deprived of the stories Jamal Khashoggi would have 
written, and so there will inevitably be a delay in learning about the 
corruption he might have exposed, heroism he might have praised, and 
insights he might have offered.
  America stands in support of American nationals.
  I encourage all journalists to be fearless and persistent; democracy 
depends on it.

                          ____________________