Kashoggi was an editorialist and critic of Saudis’ extremist policies
Jamal Khashoggi, the prominent Saudi journalist missing since he entered his country’s consulate in Istanbul on October 2, has been an outspoken critic of the ultraconservative kingdom’s government.
Turkish police believe that the Washington Post contributor, who went into self- imposed exile in the United States in 2017 after falling out with Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman, was murdered inside the consulate, according to an unnamed Turkish government official, a claim strongly denied by Riyadh.
Prince Mohamed has invited police to inspect the consulate, stressing his country had "nothing to hide".
Never one to mince his words, Khashoggi described a new Saudi era of "fear, intimidation, arrests and public shaming" in an article published in the Post last year. He had previously served as an advisor to the Saudi government, but Khashoggi, who turns 60 on October 13, has been a vociferous critic of Prince Mohammed’s policies in both the Arab and Western press.
In a March 6 editorial in Britain’s the Guardian newspaper co- authored with Robert Lacey, Khashoggi wrote: "For his domestic reform programme, the crown prince deserves praise. But at the same time, the brash and abrasive young innovator has not encouraged or permitted any popular debate" on the changes. "He appears to be moving the country from old- time religious extremism to his own ‘ You- must- accept- myreform’ extremism, without any consultation — accompanied by arrests and the disappearance of his critics."
Mr Khashoggi fled the country in September 2017, months after Prince Mohammed was appointed heir to the throne and amid a campaign that saw dozens of dissidents arrested, including intellectuals and Islamic preachers.
Khashoggi said he had been banned from writing in the pan- Arab daily AlHayat, owned by Saudi Prince Khaled bin Sultan al- Saud, over his defence of the Muslim Brotherhood which Riyadh has blacklisted as a terrorist organisation. The writer said Saudi authorities banned him from using his verified Twitter account after he said the country should be "rightfully nervous about a Trump presidency".
■ Kashoggi was banned from writing in the pan- Arab daily Al- Hayat, owned by Saudi Prince Khaled bin Sultan al- Saud, over his defence of the Muslim Brotherhood