Irish-based friend pays tribute at Khashoggi vigil
A FRIEND of the journalist killed at the Saudi Arabian consulate in Turkey last month has described him as a gentle and passionate man.
Saudi national Jamal Khashoggi was murdered after entering the consulate in Istanbul to collect marriage documents on October 2. It was later discovered that he had been killed while inside, as his murder sparked a major diplomatic storm. His body has yet to be found.
Ibrahim Hashem, who has been living in Dublin since 2014, described Mr Khashoggi, a correspondent for the ‘Washington Post’, as having an unrivalled positivity about him.
“When you talked to him you saw he was the gentlest of men,” Mr Hashem said.
“When you spoke to him you just saw a positiveness that comes out of him and everything that he says, and I’d say this was a loss for the world really. He was not a dissident at all he was actually pro-government and very much so but he just wanted some more reforms.”
Mr Hashem and his family joined a crowd of people who attended a candle-lit vigil for his friend outside the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Dublin last night.
Noreen Byrne, from Dublin, said it was important to stand and support any crimes against human rights. There was something so horrific around the circumstances of this man’s death and the fact that he was just going to get his marriage papers,” she said.
“Sometimes a stand has to be taken and this is one of those occasions.
The secretary of the National Union of Journalists, Seamus Dooley, said 74 journalists worldwide had been killed so far this year worldwide.