Road by Saudi embassy in US could be renamed after murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi
- Khashoggi, a US resident, was killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October in what Riyadh insists was a ‘rogue’ operation
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Local officials in a Washington neighbourhood have voted to rename a street outside Saudi Arabia’s embassy in honour of slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
If approved by the city council, the advisory commission’s measure means a stretch of road going past the expansive embassy building in the upscale Foggy Bottom neighbourhood would be ceremonially renamed “Jamal Khashoggi Way”.
Khashoggi, a US resident, was murdered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October.
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After initially denying the murder, Saudi Arabia has acknowledged Khashoggi was killed inside the consulate but blamed his death on a “rogue” operation.
According to CNN, the idea to change the street’s name started about a month ago following an online petition.
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“We suggest renaming the street address of the Saudi embassy into Jamal Khashoggi Way to be a daily reminder to Saudi officials” that such killings are “totally unacceptable and as an expression of Washington’s unstinting support for freedom of the press”, the petition states.
A similar action was taken outside the Russian embassy, where a street was this year renamed in honour of prominent Vladimir Putin critic Boris Nemtsov, who was assassinated in Moscow in 2015.
