People sipped margaritas and ate gourmet pizza at Princess Eugenie's Royal wedding. The bride and groom enjoyed a romantic carriage ride, and a gorgeous (and delicious looking) wedding cake. Sadly another couple will not be able to have their wedding (let alone a royal one). On October 2nd, Jamal Khashoggi entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to get documents for a divorce from his ex-wife in order to marry his fiancé. She waited outside for more than 10 hours however, he failed to reappear. The Turkish government says that he was killed inside the building, his fiancé fears he was kidnapped. The incident has raised eyebrows and protests around the world. It has also questioned if the Saudi government is really as reformist as it claims to be...
Why him?
Jamal Khashoggi is a well-known journalist and has covered many major events in multiple prominent Saudi Newspapers. He was also an adviser to top Saudi officials until he fell out with them. He became a critic of the government and moved to the US (the land of the "free") in a self-imposed exile. This did not stop him. He started writing a monthly column in the Washington Post, where he criticised the policies of the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. It seems like this was not something out of the blue. Just three days before his disappearance, he had expressed concern that he would be arrested to the BBC Newshour programme. He had said "The people being arrested are not even being dissidents, they just have an independent mind,". Well, it seems like having an independent mind may have turned out worse than he feared. The question was - Was he really killed/kidnapped at the Saudi consulate? The incentives seemed to be laid out crystal clear.
The details-
Turkish officials weren't messing around when they made these claims. They said that they had it all figured out. The story unfolded perfectly. At 3:28, a private plane lands at the Istanbul airport. This plane is allegedly carrying the Saudi agents that would go on to carry out the deed. At exactly 5:05 this group is seen checking into two hotels near the Saudi consulate (possibly revising their master plans, like in the movies). 12:13, we can see many diplomatic vehicles enter the consulate allegedly carrying our criminal agents. At 13:14, we see the victim, Mr. Jamal Khashoggi, enter the Saudi Consulate. At 15:08, we see vehicles leave the consulate and arrive at a nearly Saudi consul's residence. At around 17:33, we can see Mr. Khashoggi's fiancé waiting outside on CCTV. Come, 18:20 one of the private jet leaves Istanbul, the final getaway is made at 21:00. Turkish officials say he was interrogated, tortured and then killed. They allege that the body was then removed from the consulate. It all sounds like a movie plot. But, then again is it really that hard to believe in this world of ours?
The initial Saudi denial-
11 days after Mr. Jamal was seen entering the consulate, Interior Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Saud bin Naif bin Abdulaziz denies these allegations. They say that the journalist left the building "a few minutes or one hour" after he came. They also stressed that he left extremely "safely". The minister said that the allegation of an "order to kill" were lies and baseless allegations. Prince Mohammed himself told Bloomberg News that the Saudi government was also "very keen to know what happened". This was expected at the time, after all the government will not admit out loud "Yes, we killed the journalist". Especially a government of country with an economy like Saudi Arabia. This also puts into question whether Saudi Arabia would do something so... outright. It's economy is already suffering from the backlash. To the accusers benefit however, the government has been known for its crackdown on activists, dissidents or as said by Mr. Jamal: the independent minded. This denial was not the last story we heard from the Saudi's either (read ahead).
International response-
Is this the new normal? The UN questioned.
Could they have done it? Yes answered Donald Trump.
We demand the TRUTH. Read the poster in the hands of a protestor.
We have seen a lot of response from around the world. "It's absolutely essential to make sure that the international community says clearly that this is not something that can happen," said the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. Donald Trump also responded in his own way. He gave his own warnings saying that there would be severe punishment if Saudi Arabia is proved responsible. Trump has had his own interesting relationships with the journalist of the United States however, he came to fierce defence of reporters in his statement. "There is a lot at stake and maybe especially so because this man was a reporter. There's something - you'll be surprised to hear me say that - there's something really terrible and disgusting about that if that was the case,". Business leaders have also distanced themselves from the Saudi government after the reporting. Jamie Dimon boss of JP Morgan, a large investment banking company, is just one of the big names that pulled out of Saudi Arabia's economic summit. This has threatened Saudi Arabia's economic dream. The general public also spoke out. Protests came to the streets, many in Washington, demanding answers. The pressure was on.
The brief moment of innocence-
Or at least the pressure stayed on for a while. Donald Trump, as always, said something that may dispute his previous beliefs. After a phone call with King Salman, he told reporters that the Saudi leader firmly denied all claims. He even proposed that "rogue killers" may be behind this. However, Donald Trump never really put the blame on the Kingdom and had maintained that sanctions would not be part of any punishment (we wouldn't want to hurt American jobs, now would we?). Maybe, this was because the country in question is Saudi Arabia. If this was Russia or perhaps Iran, we may be seeing a lot more rhetoric coming from the west. Saudi Arabia has always had a free pass with the western powers, as they constantly turned a blind eye on Saudi Arabia's human rights records and even its participation in the war in Yemen. The UK, Germany and France demanded a credible probe into the disappearance. They even said if anyone were found responsible they should be held accountable but, went light and said that they "urge" a detailed response from Riyadh. However, this idea of innocence soon disappeared when...
Not good at making up stories-
It has been called the "worst cover-up in history" by (you guessed it) the US President Donald Trump. As evidence that Mr. Jamal did not leave the consulate "safely", as the Saudi's first said, mounted the Saudi's changed their gameplan. After maintaining that nothing happened for more than two weeks they admitted that the 59 year old journalist had died. They said that it happened in a fistfight, as he resisted attempts to be hauled back to Saudi Arabia by the previous "agents". They also added that the body was rolled in a rug and had been given to a local "co-operator" to be disposed off. The authorities then announced the arrest of 18 Saudi nationals in connection to this and hoped the effects would die down. But, since no one really bought the story, they finally admitted that he had been murdered. But, stretched the mention by Donald Trump earlier, by saying that it was done by rogue agents. It seems the movie has just started.