Disappearing from the Saudi embassy in Isranbul Oct. 2, 59-year-old Washington post journalist Jamal Khashoggi is believed dead, potentially dismembered by Saudi security officials. While there’s no proof yet, Saudi officials have been reluctant to turn over information about Khashoggi’s disappearance. Reporting that the hit was ordered at the highest levels of the Saudi government, namely, 34-year-old Defense Minister Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the New York Times said “the highest levels of the royal court” ordered the hit. Reporting that 15 Saudis met Khashoggi at the Saudi embassy in Istanbul, Turkish authorities have not been given access to search Khashoggi’s whereabouts. Turkish officials believe Khashoggi was killed by Saudi security officials but have no proof of the crime. Khashoggi was living in exile in the U.S. before flying to Istanbul to process marriage papers.
Establishing a clear motive for the hit, Khashoggi reportedly went to Istanbul to file paperwork to marry his fiancée, Turkish national Hatice Cengiz, living for more than a year in the States because his critical reports about Bin Salman placed his life in jeopardy. Khashoggi filed reports for the Washington Post about Bin Salman’s rise to power in 2017, incarcerating many in the Royal Family opposed to his power. Gruesome reports about Kahasoggi being dismembered by a “bone saw” circulated in the media, accounting for how the 59-year-old journalist disappeared from sight. Turkish authorities have released video footage showing that Khashoggi was targeted and murdered by Saudi secret police. Khashoggi was among the first journalists to publish reports of Bin Salman’s crackdown on members of the Royal Family, placing them under house arrest at a hotel in Riyadh.
Khashoggi published many reports in the Washington Post critical of Bin Salman’s war in Yemen, reporting recently on Saudi arrests of women’s rights activists protesting treatment of women after ending the Kingdom’s ban on women drivers. Khashoggi advocated for women’s rights, infuriating Bin Salman for making the Kingdom look backwards. Khansoggi’s Turkish finance, Hatice Cengiz, said she thought his life was in danger, returning to the Saudi embassy in Istanbul for the second time. “We cannot let this happen to reporters, to anybody. And we’re going to get to the bottom of it,” Trump told reporters at the White House. And we’re going to get to the bottom of it,” saying that First Lady Melania was making arrangements to bring Cengiz to the White House to get to full picture of what happened. So far, Saudi officials have offered very little on Khashoggi’s disappearance.
Since Khashoggi’s disappearance Oct. 2, the White House has done little to get to the bottom of it. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, National Security Adviser John Bolton and Senior Adviser Jared Kushner called Bin Salman to get more facts on Khashoggi’s disappearance. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo asked Crown Prince Bin Salman for a full accounting of what happened with the journalist’s disappearance. Reporting yesterday that telephone intercepts proved that Saudi authorities had Khashoggi in the crosshairs., planning to abduct him. Among the 15 Saudis identified was Salah Mohammad al-Tubaigy a forensic specialist and autopsy expert, someone capable of hiding crime scene evidence. While there’s been no formal investigation, all indications point to Khashoggi murdered, dismembered and carried out of Isranbul’s Saudi embassy.
U.S. intelligence intercepted a Saudi call talking about abducting Khashoggi, something currently denied by Saudi officials. Bin Salman saw Khashoggi as a thorn in his side, especially knowing he sought permanent residence in the U.S. from which to expose Saudi repression of human rights and the war in Yemen. When you consider Saudi sent an autopsy and forensic expert to the scene, it doesn’t bode well for his fiancée, Hatice Cengiz. “I’ve never been more disturbed than I am right now,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). “If this man was murdered in the Saudi consulate in Isrtanbul, that would cross every line of normality in the international community,” requiring a strong U.S. government response. With arms sales to Saudi Arabia totally $500 million in 2017, Graham said there would be consequences if Khashoggi was murdered in the Saudi embassy.
When 34-year-old Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman placed much the Royal Family in house arrest last year, it was dismissed as simply cleaning house of corruption. Little did anyone know that Bin Salman would put a hit on a Washington Post journalistic for criticizing the Saudi government. “Silence, denials and delays are not acceptable,” said Washington Post CEO and Publisher Fred Ryan, calling on Riyadh and Ankara to release whatever information is available. “I don’t know how I can keep on living if he was abducted or killed in Turkey,” said Cengiz, knowing it’s not looking good. If reports of Khashoggi’s Saudi hit proved factual, Bin Salman’s got a lot of explaining to do to salvage U.S.-Saudi relations. Graham isn’t the only elected official who will take Khashoggi’s death seriously. President Trump vowed to get to the bottom of what happened—and do something about it.
