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CONCEPT – MURDER OF JAMAL KHASHOGGI
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- Jamal Khashoggi: A prominent 59-year old Saudi journalist, he used to cover major stories, including the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the rise of the late al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden. For decades, he was close to the Saudi royal family and also served as an adviser. But he fell out of favour and went into self-imposed exile in the US in 2017. From there, he wrote a monthly column in The Washington Post in which he criticised the policies of Prince Mohammed, who had become the kingdom's de facto ruler.
- Vanishing into the consulate: He went into Saudi consulate in Istanbul (Turkey) on 2 October, 2018 to obtain a marriage document but soon disappeared. After more than two weeks of denials, Saudi Arabia eventually admitted that he had been killed within the consulate in what officials called a "rogue operation" and has vowed to punish "those responsible".
- Death: The exact cause of his death is unknown since his body has not been located or examined. Government officials of Turkey, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany, believe Khashoggi was murdered. Turkey even had audio recordings of the consulate, to prove this!
- Incident details: Khashoggi first visited the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on 28 September to obtain a Saudi document stating that he was divorced, so that he could marry his Turkish fiancée, Hatice Cengiz. He was told he would have to return to pick up the document and arranged to come back on 2 October. He did not believe that something bad could happen on Turkish soil. Ms Cengiz accompanied him to the entrance of the consulate on 2 October. He was last seen on CCTV footage entering the building at 13:14 local time.
- Saudi stance changes: In a change of tune on 20 October, 2018, the Saudi government said a preliminary investigation by prosecutors had concluded that the journalist died during a "fight" after resisting attempts to return him to Saudi Arabia. Later, a Saudi official attributed the death to a chokehold. On 15 November, Saudi Arabia's deputy public prosecutor Shalaan Shalaan said the murder was ordered by the head of a "negotiations team" sent to Istanbul by the Saudi deputy intelligence chief to bring Khashoggi back to the kingdom "by means of persuasion" or, if that failed, "by force". Five individuals had confessed to the murder, Mr Shalaan said.
- Action taken: Saudis claimed they were committed to and capable of bringing those responsible for Khashoggi's murder to justice. On 26 October, 2018, Saudi officials said 18 people had been arrested and five senior government officials had been sacked as part of an investigation into the case.
- On 3 January, 2019, 11 individuals were put on trial at the Criminal Court of Riyadh in connection with the killing.
- Trial took place behind closed doors and the identities of the defendants were not released.
- The court conducted ten hearings that were not open to the public. A few foreign diplomats were allowed to attend the hearings after swearing to secrecy.
- On 23 December 2019 five people were sentenced to death, for carrying out Khashoggi's killing.
- Turkey's stand: Writing in the Washington Post on 2 November, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared it had been established that Khashoggi "was killed in cold blood by a death squad" and "that his murder was premeditated". Mr Erdogan said he knew the order to kill Khashoggi "came from the highest levels of the Saudi government", but that he did "not believe for a second that King Salman, the custodian of the holy mosques, ordered the hit".
- UN investigation: An investigation by UN Special Rapporteur Agnes Callamard concluded that Khashoggi's death "constituted an extrajudicial killing for which the state of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is responsible".
- Turkey's game: Turkish officials were not granted access to the Saudi consulate for DNA testing until more than two weeks after the incident.
- International reaction: Khashoggi's killing was internationally condemned and caused a diplomatic crisis between Saudi Arabia and some of its closest allies, including the US. After the murder was confirmed by the Saudis, US President Donald Trump described it as the "worst cover-up in history". However, he defended US ties to the kingdom, a key trading partner. This response was widely derided by senators in Congress who point the finger at Prince Mohammed and want the US to take tougher action against Saudi Arabia by halting arms sales. Germany, Finland and Denmark were among the European nations to cancel arms deals with Saudi Arabia after the killing.
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