Amal Clooney took a swipe at President Donald Trump at the United Nations Correspondents Association Dinner Awards Wednesday in New York City.
The 40-year-old human rights lawyer said Trump has given autocratic regimes like North Korea and Myanmar a “green light” to target journalists and labeled the “press in this country the enemy of the people”
“The chilling effect is real and it has already been felt, not only in Myanmar but further afield,” Clooney shared while accepting the 2018 Global Citizen of the Year honor, according to Fox News Thursday. And sadly similar examples abound in autocratic regimes from North Korea to the Philippines, to Hungary, Turkey and Brazil.” (RELATED: Marco Rubio Says America’s Reputation On ‘Human Rights’ Should Trump Arms Deal With Saudi Arabia)
Actor George Clooney (L) and Amal Clooney arrive on the red carpet for the 72nd annual Golden Globe Awards, January 11, 2015 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo credit: MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images)
“The U.S. President has given such regimes a green light,” she added. “And labelled the press in this country ‘the enemy of the people.'”
Clooney continued while referencing the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, “Of course, two months ago a Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi walked into a consulate in Istanbul and was brutally tortured to death. In many of the cases that I have worked on too, I have seen journalists and opposition figures ruthlessly targeted so that they can no longer criticize leaders.”
At #UNCA70 dinner in New York, human rights lawyer Amal Clooney speaks about #Myanmar case of @Reuters #FreeWaLoneKyawSoeOo
‘The chilling effect is real.’
She also talks about the effect of #US President @realDonaldTrump‘s description of press as an enemy of the people. pic.twitter.com/m0rE7XCz0R
— Michelle Nichols (@michellenichols) December 6, 2018
“You are being jailed at a higher rate than ever,” Clooney explained, according to the London Evening Standard. “And you are dying while covering wars, not just because you walk, unarmed, into some of the most dangerous places on earth. But because you are being targeted for exposing crimes committed in war. For speaking the truth that perpetrators find the most difficult to hear.”
The wife of actor George Clooney, who has also criticized the president, previously called Trump’s immigration policies and fight against terrorism “violations of international human rights law.”