(Washington) The street in front of the Saudi Arabian embassy in Washington will be renamed in honor of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, murdered in Turkey by a commando team from his country, local authorities have announced.
The elected officials of the American capital voted on Tuesday in favor of this symbolic initiative, which will see a portion of New Hampshire Avenue bordering the Saudi embassy and the Watergate hotel renamed “Jamal-Khashoggi passage”.
Critic of Saudi power after being close to it, Mr. Khashoggi, resident in the United States and columnist for the daily Washington post, was assassinated on October 2, 2018 in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul by a team of agents from the kingdom.
His dismembered body has never been found.
A US intelligence report accused Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, said MBS, of having “validated” the assassination.
“Through his practice of journalism, Jamal Khashoggi was a fierce defender of democracy, human rights and the rule of law,” said the Washington city council.
“By renaming the street in front of the Saudi Arabian embassy in honor of Jamal Khashoggi, Washington is creating a monument to his memory that cannot be erased or removed,” he adds.
The Saudi embassy has not commented on the decision despite requests from AFP.
The text must now be signed by the mayor of Washington, Muriel Bowser, and has not encountered opposition in the US Congress, which is reviewing all of the capital’s new laws.
In 2018, Washington had already renamed a street near the Russian embassy in honor of Boris Nemtsov, detractor of Vladimir Putin, shot dead in Moscow in 2015.