Khashoggi has remained close to the Saudi establishment for years. He reported, among others: the war in Afghanistan and the activities of Osama bin Laden, he headed Saudi newspapers and was not an opponent of the monarchy.
Over time, however, he became more and more critical of the direction in which the country was headed by Mohammed bin Salman, the heir to the throne, especially the restriction of freedom of expression and the repression of his critics. In 2017, Khashoggi fled to the USA, where he publicly criticized the policy of the actual ruler of the kingdom in the Washington Post. CNN claims that authorities in Riyadh planned to lure him back to Saudi Arabia.
On October 2, 2018, a 59-year-old journalist entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to arrange wedding documents and never left. A few days later, Turkish authorities announced that he had been killed there by a group of Saudis who had flown to Istanbul for this purpose.
Journalist dismembered
As a subsequent investigation by UN Special Rapporteur Agnes Callamard found, there was credible evidence that there was a planned killing for which the Saudi state was responsible. According to the investigation findings, Khashoggi's body was dismembered and removed from the consulate. The remains were never found.
The assassination came during a period of rapid concentration of power in bin Salman's hands. After his appointment as heir to the throne, the autonomy of institutions and centers of power that had previously been under the control of various members of the House of Saud was limited.
Also in 2018, over 300 princes, high officials and businessmen were detained at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Riyadh. The luxury hotel became a place of internment for the Saudi elite for several months, and some of the detainees regained their freedom only after they were handed over to the state, among others. money, real estate and shares. According to the authorities, assets worth over $100 billion were seized as part of the settlements concluded at that time.
In this context, Khashoggi's murder can be seen as part of a broader campaign against critics of the government. The journalist was not the leader of the organized opposition, but a former representative of the establishment who gained the opportunity to criticize the heir to the throne from Washington. The Washington Post pointed out that his connections with Saudi elites could make his criticism particularly troublesome for the authorities.
How did the Saudi authorities comment on the journalist's death?
Riyadh initially claimed that Khashoggi had left the consulate, later - that the journalist had been killed, but the murder was an operation carried out without the knowledge of the heir to the throne. In 2019, a Saudi court sentenced five defendants to death and three to prison. After Khashoggi's sons announced that they forgave the perpetrators, their death sentences were commuted to 20 years in prison; the remaining convicts received sentences ranging from seven to 10 years in prison. Human Rights Watch assessed that the process was not transparent and did not lead to accountability for those at the highest levels of government.
In the same year, in an interview with journalists of the "Frontline" program, the Crown Prince commented on the matter for the first time. This happened during my reign. I take all responsibility for this because it happened during my reign, said the prince. Salman also said that he had no knowledge about the entire operation. When asked how this was even possible, he replied: We have 20 million people. We have 3 million officials.
In 2021, US intelligence released an assessment that bin Salman approved an operation to capture or kill Khashoggi. It was emphasized that the crown prince had control over the Saudi services, and his close advisor and members of his personal security took part in the operation. According to the intelligence, since 2017, bin Salman had exercised such far-reaching control over the security apparatus that carrying out a similar operation without his consent was highly unlikely.
Trump: These things happen
On the eighth anniversary of Khashoggi's death, the organization he founded, Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), intends to organize a protest in front of the Saudi Embassy in Washington. She also appealed to Congress to block three agreements with Riyadh: the sale of 10,000 guided bomb kits for $5 billion, the sale of 48 F-35 fighters for $24.3 billion and an agreement on civilian nuclear cooperation.
