Saudi Arabia Admits Jamal Khashoggi’s Murder Inside Istanbul Consulate

After 18 days of denying any knowledge of the disappearance of Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi government finally admitted his murder inside its consulate in Istanbul, Turkey.

The official SPA press agency announced on Saturday that Khashoggi died in a brawl after peaceful “discussions” turned into a physical altercation.

“Discussions that took place between him and the persons who met him … at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul led to a brawl and a fist fight with the citizen, Jamal Khashoggi, which led to his death,” Saudi Attorney General Sheikh Saud al-Mojeb said in a statement. “May his soul rest in peace.”

Officials reportedly arrested 18 Saudi nationals involved in the incident and removed Royal court advisor Saud al-Qahtani and deputy intelligence chief Ahmed al-Asiri from their posts. However, the crown prince Mohammed bin Salman—who was believed to have orchestrated the murder—was not punished or even under investigation.

Born in Medina in 1958, Khashoggi was once a trusted advisor of the Saudi royal family.

Before entering his reporting career, he studied in the United States and received a journalism degree from Indiana University. In 1987, he started to write for the London-based Saudi publication Asharq Al-Awsat Daily, covering Afghanistan, Algeria, Kuwait and the Middle East in the 19.0s. He then worked for Al-Hayat newspaper for eight years and was known for his multiple interviews with Osama bin Laden in the 1990s.

Beginning from the 2000s, Khashoggi’s writing started to get negative attention from the top as he continued to critically examine Saudi’s policies. In 2003, he was fired from his position as the editor-in-chief of the Al Watan paper because of his “editorial policy”. After rehiring him in 2007, the post dismissed him again in 2010. Khashoggi believed his removal both times was due to his “pushing the boundaries of debate within Saudi society.”

Unfaltering and unafraid, the journalist became even more vocal in his criticism as the crown prince used the pretense of reform to take down political enemies—princes, businessmen and activists. He also voiced strong support for the Muslim Brotherhood—an organization classified as a terrorist group by Saudi Arabia.

One day, he was finally “ordered to shut up”.

It became too dangerous for Khashoggi to live in Saudi Arabia. In the summer of 2017, he decided to move back to the United States and work for the Washington Post. Nevertheless, the political hysteria and oppression in his home country never escaped his mind. In fact, one of his first articles at the Post was titled “Saudi Arabia wasn’t always this repressive. Now it’s unbearable”.

“We are expected to vigorously applaud social reforms and heap praise on the crown prince while avoiding any reference to the pioneering Saudis who dared to address these issues decades ago,” he wrote in a column. “We are being asked to abandon any hope of political freedom, and to keep quiet about arrests and travel bans that impact not only the critics but also their families”.

Ever since he left Saudi Arabia, Khashoggi had been dividing his time between London, Istanbul, and Virginia. On October 2nd, he went to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to obtain documents for his marriage and never came back.

The international community, especially Turkey, was not impressed by the story Saudi Arabia had put forward. Turkish media outlet Yeni Safak revealed that the journalist did not die in a fistfight. Rather, he was killed by a 15-person “assassination team” who flew in the country to interrogate, torture and murder him. According to an audio recording of the murder, the Saudi death squad cut off Khashoggi’s fingers before eventually decapitating him.

Throughout the last two weeks, Turkish intelligence has been examining the crime scene and searching for Khashoggi’s body. Till now, no one knows where the body is.

Turkish officials are complaining that Saudi Arabia is doing whatever it takes to obstruct the investigation, Al Jazeera reporter Sinem Koseoglu disclosed.

“It’s a question of how to get away with murder,” she said. “For the sake of the prosecution, the only thing missing is the body of Jamal Khashoggi in order to file an indictment. Now, Turkey is going to ask, ‘Where is the body?”

Featured image via EPA-EFE, AFP