The publication of the US intelligence report on the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, by President Biden’s administration should be a benchmark in the US policy towards Middle East affairs,

especially with regard to human rights and public freedoms issues. But publication of the report will not be meaningful unless it includes clear measures against the planners and perpetrators of the murder and dismemberment of Jamal Khashoggi.

What the Biden administration should realize is that the murder of Khashoggi is part of a policy of eliminating free-minded people by cruel and inhumane methods. This reckless policy must be confronted firmly and must be subject to international accountability.

Issuing the report should be followed by a fair trial for everyone involved in the murder and cover-up of Jamal Khashoggi. They must not escape prosecution, accountability and punishment. Jamal Khashoggi was a resident of America and a writer for one of the most prominent newspapers published in the United States of America. Protecting him was the duty of the US administration. Having not done so, the trial and prosecution of his assassins must now be among its most pressing duties.

Today proves that his blood is on MBS’s hands, as is the blood of thousands of Yemeni children and countless others in Saudi jails, Saudi streets and Saudi wars. But this is cold comfort. Jamal’s blood should never have been spilled.

However, even in death, Jamal advanced the fight for freedom. His spilled blood helped the world snap out of the delusion that MBS was a reformer and abandon willful ignorance that the people’s basic rights and authoritarianism can coexist. The tragic injustice and indignity he suffered helped shine a light on the injustices against women human rights defenders like Loujain AlHathloul and Samar Badawi.

That his fight for justice was able to outlive him is due in no small part to Hatice Cengiz, my sister. She is a testament, like her Jamal was a testament, to the prevailing power of freedom fighters to make big things happen no matter the difficulties of the path.