The big questions remain

“Covering up this kind of savagery will hurt the conscience of all humanity.” This was part of the Turkish prime minister’s denunciation of the “savage murder” of Jamal Khashoggi, a “preplanned operation”.

President Donald Trump had a more pragmatic critique, couched in the language of business projects.

“They had a very bad original concept, it was carried out poorly and the cover-up was the worst in the history of cover-ups.”

The history of cover-ups has become something of an American speciality, with Richard Nixon still the prime example, but lingering doubts still hover over the assassination of John F Kennedy. There are numerous rival claimants, historically and geographically.

As the hideous details of Khashoggi’s final hours have slowly emerged, with references to dismemberment, disfigurement and a bone saw, the major questions have remained unanswered. Where is the corpse?

Although it is increasingly assumed that the Saudi crown prince authorised the assassination, the larger question is “why?”.

Khashoggi was, in Western terms at any rate, a moderate critic of an illiberal regime who seems not to have posed any serious threat to it.

It seems incredible that an attitude of “business as usual” will prevail, for many hold that “Murder will out”. Hughes is an emeritus professor formerly with Wits University