Club leaders urge Congress to hold hearings on just-released Khashoggi report

National Press Club President Lisa Nicole Matthews and Journalism Institute President Angela Greiling Keane issued the following statement on Friday on the release by the United States government of a long-awaited report on the murder of Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi:

Ever since his gruesome murder in October 2018, we have called for justice for Jamal Khashoggi. While it has taken far too long to come to public light, we are encouraged by the transparency of the report released today detailing the role of Saudi Arabia as a state sponsor of this murder and implicating Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as a central figure in the murder plot.

Several important principles are at stake in this case:

■ State actors may not be allowed to unjustly detain and, in this case, murder journalists to silence them.

■ The U.S. government must stand up for U.S. journalists even when they are endangered on foreign soil. (Khashoggi lived in Virginia and was an employee of the Washington Post.)

■ For a democracy to function, it is crucial that the public know the facts, even if they are damning to our allies.

In Bob Woodward’s book, Rage, about President Donald Trump, the former president describes discouraging Congress from investigating the involvement of the Saudi government in Khashoggi’s murder. We urge Congress to use this report as the basis for hearings.

On Nov. 28, 2018, not long after the murder of Khashoggi, the Club recognized him with the John Aubuchon Award, our highest honor for press freedom. Fred Ryan, publisher of the Washington Post attended to speak and accept the honor for the Khashoggi family. In Ryan’s remarks, he pointed toward the day when the U.S. government would release a full report on the brutal murder of his employee. That day has finally arrived.