By Umar Farooq
WASHINGTON (AA) – Demonstrators protested outside of the Embassy of Saudi Arabia on Thursday demanding justice for Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Organizers also announced the creation of the Khashoggi’s Friends Around the World Association, which calls for justice for the journalist and his family.
“I want to ask the people in this building, and their bosses in Riyadh, why did they kidnap, torture, kill and dismember my friend Jamal Khashoggi,” Safei-Eldin Hamed, president of the Center for Egyptian American Relations (CEAR), said at the rally.
Saudi officials last week said Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington Post, was killed in a fist-fight at its consulate in Istanbul.
Protestors also shined light on Saudi crimes against Yemen they said far predated the killing of Khashoggi.
“Those people who are now crying, crocodile tears, over Jamal Khashoggi, many of them supported the Saudi starvation and killing of the Yemeni people and Yemeni children. We don’t want to make this victim a political football,” Institute of Gulf Affairs Director and Journalist Ali al-Ahmed told the crowd.
The crowd tried to deliver a letter to Saudi King Salman bin Abdelaziz but were intercepted by security guards before it reached the steps of the embassy, less than 100 feet (30 meters) from the entrance.
“The egregious murder of Khashoggi will leave a permanent stain on your good name and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s reputation,” according the letter. “Act boldly dear King Salman, for your position on the throne of Saudi Arabia and the leader of the Muslim world may soon become a tenable one.”
Demonstrators also marched to the office of Republican Senator Bob Corker who heads the Senate's Committee on Foreign Relations, to hand-deliver a similar letter.
