Khashoggi silencing must not be swept under carpet

I THINK of embassies and consulates as safe havens where citizens away from their home countries seek assistance in emergencies, renew passports or request or sign official papers they need occasionally.

They are places of diplomacy, civility, conviviality, courtesy and problem solving. Some do intelligence gathering and, sometimes, spying.

They are not seen as places of murder, as is believed happened to the Saudi Arabian-born journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, living in self-imposed exile from 2017 and who went to a Saudi Arabian consulate in Turkey on October 2 for legal papers for a future marriage. His fiancée waited outside and did not see him come out.

The Turkish authorities are of the firm view he was murdered and dismembered and his remains removed from the consulate. They believe his fingers were cut off first – in possible revenge for his writing. They have audio recordings of something bad happening.

The monarchical government of Saudi Arabia says it does not know of a killing

in the consulate, nor was it sanctioned. Turkey is not happy with this happening in a consulate in their country.

What his death means in the big picture is he was speaking out on uncomfortable issues and the decision was made to silence him forever.

Khashoggi’s articles in the ‘Washington Post’ are why his probable death was not swept under the carpet. His last article for the paper was published on October 17, about wanting to see a free press in Arab countries and how they had their own version of an Iron Curtain imposed by internal forces vying for power.

Khashoggi began his journalism in Saudi Arabia in the 1980s and was foreign correspondent in Afghanistan, Algeria, Kuwait, etc. He was critical of Saudi Arabia’s intervention in 2015 in the ‘cruel war’ in Yemen, which the

UN recently warned is close to a major famine as food prices are rising sharply because of its civil war.

He was against Israel’s building of settlements in what is seen as the Palestinian territories. He believed women should have the same rights as men and people should be free to speak their minds without fear of imprisonment.

Turkey’s police hope to find his remains. Mary Sullivan Co Cork