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Above: Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett stands in solidarity with members of the NUJ, Bee Army and Amnesty Ireland at the vigil. Right: Nora Geraghty, Dublin branch, plays a traditional Irish lament in memory of Jamal Khashoggi. Photos: Derek Spiers
Music and passion at Khashoggi vigil By Séamus Dooley
The strains of Anach Cuan, Antoine Ó Raifteirí’s poignant lament, stilled Dublin's Fitzwilliam Square on Monday night October 22nd, as the first anniversary of the murder of Jamal Khashoggi was marked outside the Embassy of Saudi Arabia. It was a fitting choice by Dublin branch member Nora Geraghty, and as Nora played the haunting slow air on the stone steps of the impervious Georgian building, Ó Raifteirí’s words came to mind: Full many the soul it has left in mourning,
And left without hope of a bright day's dawn. Jamal’s murder was not confirmed until
October 21st and so it was decided to mark the anniversary this year with a public commemoration that week. No action has been taken against the perpetrators of the vicious killing at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. There can be no doubt that the Saudi Arabian government has the blood of this brave journalist on its hands.
In a brief address, Bee Army CEO Abdulaziz
Almoayyad pointed to the security cameras trained on the steps. "You speak for those who cannot speak, who are being watched in their own country," he said, commenting that Jamal
Khashoggi had a large circle of friends and family in his life. In death that "family" has grown across the world. It was important to him and to his colleagues that Jamal's murder should not be forgotten. Abdulaziz was in no doubt that the Dublin protest would help draw attention to the Saudi government’s abject failure to respect human rights.
NUJ members, led by Irish Executive Council
joint cathaoirleach Gerry Carson, were joined by co-organisers from the Bee Army and Amnesty Ireland in a moving vigil which was also attended by Richard Boyd Barrett TD. The ICTU was represented by David Joyce, Global Solidarity Officer. The Bee Army is a network of Saudi journalists and human rights activists which was supported by Jamal. The attendance also included many students from Griffith College and Dun Laoghaire Further Education Institute Earlier at Buswells Hotel, across from parliament buildings on Kildare Street, NUJ members interrupted their Freelance Forum to mark the anniversary with a message of solidarity. The vigil formed part of the NUJ's support for
the #EndImpunity campaign and the union is grateful to Dublin P&PR branch for sponsorship of the specially designed poster "Murdered by Saudia Arabia for the crime of being a journalist".
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