Saudi critic feared missing after entering consulate
ISTANBUL: Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi government critic and journalist, has remained inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul almost a day after entering it on Tuesday, raising concerns among friends and relatives about his safety.
Mr Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributor, was accompanied by his fiancee to the consulate, where the couple went to complete routine paperwork, but she was not allowed to enter with him, according to the newspaper and Turkish media outlets. His fiancee wasn’t allowed to enter with him, the Post said.
Saudi Arabia has cracked down on dissent since the rise to power of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in 2015, arresting activists, businessmen and religious scholars who don’t support the government’s policies. Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir said last year that the roundup had targeted people who were “pushing an extremist agenda” with the help of foreign funding.
Saudi Arabia’s Center for International Communication didn’t i mmediately respond to requests for comment on Mr Khashoggi’s whereabouts. Turkey’s Foreign Ministry had no immediate comment. Bloomberg was unable to reach Mr Khashoggi by telephone.
“He said he’d go in, take his documents and get out. ‘If something happens, call Yasin Aktay and the Turkish Arab Media Association,’ he told me,” Turkey’s staterun Anadolu Agency cited his fiancee as saying. “Someone from the consulate told me that he had already got out, advising me not to wait.”
Yasin Aktay, an adviser to chairman of Turkey’s ruling AK Party, didn’t respond to calls to his mobile phone.
LEFT KINGDOM
“Jamal and I have not seen eye to eye on many issues but having him go missing like this is awful and my thoughts and prayers are with him and his family,” tweeted Ali Shihabi, head of the Arabia Foundation, a pro-Saudi think tank in the US.
Mr Khashoggi has lived in the US since last year after leaving Saudi Arabia over concerns he would be arrested or prevented from traveling abroad. He became one of Saudi Arabia’s most prominent journalists after interviewing Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan.
Under previous monarchs he was close to the government, serving as adviser to senior officials, including former intelligence chief Prince Turki.
Prince Mohammed’s clampdown has undercut his efforts to fashion himself as a moderniser trying to open Saudi Arabia’s economy and loosen some social restrictions. In May, some of the country’s most prominent women’s rights activists were arrested as well, accused of cooperating with unspecified foreign entities. Many Saudis say space for respectful criticism has shrunk.
Separately, a Saudi Arabian national who is wanted for “non-sufficient funds checks” was arrested and extradited to the kingdom, according to a report by stateowned Saudi Press Agency. The report didn’t identify the arrested individual or where he was extradited from, and it isn’t clear if this related to Mr Khashoggi.
The action was taken within the framework of international cooperation between Saudi Interpol and Interpol member states to combat overseas and public crimes, according to SPA.