Khashoggi was the editor of the Saudi Arabian newspaperAl Watan, which was considered a platform for Saudi progressives.[12] Khashoggi fledSaudi Arabia in September 2017 and went into self-imposed exile. He said that the Saudi government had "banned him from Twitter",[13] and he later wrote newspaper articles critical of the Saudi government. Khashoggi had been critical of the Saudi rulers,King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.[14] He also opposed theSaudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen.[15]
On 2 October 2018, Khashoggi entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to obtain documents related to his planned marriage but was never seen leaving.[16] Amid news reports claiming that he had been killed anddismembered inside, an inspection of the consulate, by Saudi and Turkish officials, took place on 15 October. Initially, the Saudi government denied the death, but following shifting explanations for Khashoggi's death, Saudi Arabia'sattorney general eventually stated that the murder waspremeditated.[17][18] By 16 November 2018, theCentral Intelligence Agency (CIA) had concluded that Mohammed bin Salman ordered Khashoggi's assassination.[19][20] The murder created tensions between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, but did not meaningfully disrupt the friendship between the two countries.
On 11 December 2018, Khashoggi was posthumously namedTime magazine'sPerson of the Year along with other journalists who faced political persecution for their work.Time referred to Khashoggi as a "Guardian of the Truth".[21][22][23]
Khashoggi's Turkish ancestors made theHajj fromKayseri toMecca some four centuries earlier and decided to stay.[24][25] Their family surname means "spoon maker" (kaşıkçı) in Turkish.[26]
U.S. PresidentObama (left) after his 2009 speech"A New Beginning", with Khashoggi next to him
Khashoggi began his career as a regional manager for Tihama Bookstores from 1983 to 1984.[32] Later he worked as a correspondent for theSaudi Gazette and as an assistant manager forOkaz from 1985 to 1987.[32] He continued his career as a reporter for various daily and weekly Arab newspapers from 1987 to 1990, includingAsharq Al-Awsat,Al Majalla andAl Muslimoon.[10][32] He also served with theSaudi Arabian Intelligence Agency, and possibly worked with the United States, during theSoviet invasion in Afghanistan.[33]
In 1991, Khashoggi became managing editor and acting editor-in-chief ofAl Madina and his tenure in that position lasted until 1999.[32] During this period he was also a foreign correspondent in such countries asAfghanistan,Algeria,Kuwait,Sudan, and in the Middle East.[10] He then was appointed a deputy editor-in-chief ofArab News, and served in the post from 1999 to 2003.[35]
Khashoggi wrote in aPost column on 3 April 2018 that Saudi Arabia "should return to itspre-1979 climate, when the government restricted hard-lineWahhabi traditions. Women today should have the same rights as men. And all citizens should have the right to speak their minds without fear of imprisonment."[36] He also said that Saudis "must find a way where we can accommodatesecularism and Islam, something like what they have in Turkey."[37] In a posthumous (17 October 2018) article, "What the Arab world needs most isfree expression", Khashoggi described the hopes of Arab world press freedom during theArab Spring and his hope that an Arab world free press, independent from national governments, would develop so that "ordinary people in the Arab world would be able to address the structural problems their societies face."[38]
Speaking to the BBC'sNewshour, Khashoggi criticizedIsrael's settlement building in the occupiedPalestinian territories, saying: "There was no international pressure on the Israelis and therefore the Israelis got away with building settlements, demolishing homes."[43]
Appearing on Qatar-basedAl-Jazeera TV's programmeWithout Borders, Khashoggi stated thatSaudi Arabia, to confrontIran, must re-embrace its proper religious identity as a WahhabiIslamic revivalist state and build alliances with organisations rooted inpolitical Islam such as theMuslim Brotherhood, and that it would be a "big mistake" if Saudi Arabia and the Muslim Brotherhood cannot be friendly.[44]
Khashoggi criticized theSaudi war on Yemen, writing "The longer this cruel war lasts in Yemen, the more permanent the damage will be. The people of Yemen will be busy fighting poverty,cholera, and water scarcity and rebuilding their country. The crown prince [Mohammed bin Salman] must bring an end to the violence", and "Saudi Arabia's crown prince must restore dignity to his country – by ending Yemen's cruel war".[45]
According to Khashoggi,Lebanon's Prime MinisterSaad Hariri'sforced resignation in a live television broadcast from Saudi Arabia on 4 November 2017 "could in part be due to the 'Trump effect,' particularly the U.S. president's strong bond with MBS. The two despiseIran and its proxyHezbollah, a sentiment the Israelis share."[39]
Khashoggi wrote in August 2018 that "Saudi Arabia's Crown PrinceMohammed bin Salman, known by his initials, MBS, is signaling that any open opposition to Saudi domestic policies, even ones as egregious as the punitive arrests of reform-seeking Saudi women, is intolerable."[40] According to Khashoggi, "while MBS is right to free Saudi Arabia fromultra-conservative religious forces, he is wrong to advance a new radicalism that, while seemingly more liberal and appealing to the West, is just as intolerant of dissent."[46] Khashoggi also wrote that "MBS's rash actions are deepening tensions and undermining the security of theGulf states and the region as a whole."[39]
Khashoggi criticizedAbdel Fatteh el-Sisi's government inEgypt. According to Khashoggi, "Egypt has jailed 60,000 opposition members and is deserving of criticism as well."[40] Khashoggi wrote that despite U.S. PresidentBarack Obama's "declared support for democracy and change in the Arab world in the wake of the Arab Spring, then PresidentBarack Obama did not take a strong position and reject thecoup against Egyptian President-electMohamed Morsi. The coup led to themilitary's return to power in the largest Arab country – along with tyranny, repression, corruption, and mismanagement."[47] Morsi's government wasremoved from office in July 2013.[48]
Khashoggi was critical ofIran’sShi'asectarianism. He wrote in February 2016: "Iran looks at the region, particularlySyria, from a sectarian angle. ThemilitiasTehran is relying on, some of which come from as far as Afghanistan, are sectarian. They raid Syrian villages with sectarian slogans, bringing to life conflicts from over a thousand years ago. With blood and sectarianism, Iran is redrawing the map of the region."[49]
CNN described Khashoggi as a "journalist simply doing his job who evolved from an Islamist in his twenties to a more liberal position by the time he was in his forties," and that "by 2005, Khashoggi said he had also rejected the Islamist idea of creating an Islamic state and had turned against the religious establishment in Saudi Arabia. According to CNN he also had embraced theEnlightenment and the American idea of theseparation of church and state."[37] According toEgypt Today, Khashoggi revealed "yes, I joined the Muslim Brotherhood organization when I was at university; and I was not alone. Some of the current ministers and deputies did but later every one of us developed their own political tendencies and views."[48] Politically, Khashoggi was supportive of the Muslim Brotherhood as an exercise in democracy in the Muslim world. In one of his own blogs, he argued for the Muslim Brotherhood, and wrote that: "there can be no political reform and democracy in any Arab country without accepting that political Islam is a part of it."[50][47]The Irish Times journalistLara Marlowe wrote that "IfChristian democracy was possible in Europe, why could Arabs not be ruled byMuslim democracy, Jamal asked. That may explain his friendship with Turkish presidentRecep Tayyip Erdogan...Erdogan constituted the greatest hope of Muslim democracy, until he too turned into a despot."[51]
According toThe Washington Post, while "Khashoggi was once sympathetic to Islamist movements, he moved toward a more liberal, secular point of view, according to experts on the Middle East who have tracked his career."[52]
Donald Trump Jr. promoted the idea that Khashoggi was a "jihadist".[53] According toDavid Ignatius, Khashoggi was in his early 20s "a passionate member of the Muslim Brotherhood. The brotherhood was a secret underground fraternity that wanted to purge the Arab world of the corruption and autocratic rule it saw as a legacy ofWestern colonialism."[42] According toThe New York Times, Khashoggi "balanced what appears to have been a private affinity for democracy and political Islam with his long service to the royal [Saudi] family", and that "His attraction to political Islam helped him forge a personal bond with President Erdogan of Turkey". It also states that "Several of his friends say that early on Mr. Khashoggi also joined the Muslim Brotherhood", and that "Although he later stopped attending meetings of the Brotherhood, he remained conversant in its conservative, Islamist and often anti-Western rhetoric, which he could deploy or hide depending on whom he was seeking to befriend". The newspaper also writes that "By the time he reached his 50s, Mr. Khashoggi's relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood was ambiguous. Several Muslim Brothers said this week that they always felt he was with them. Many of his secular friends would not have believed it".[28]
According toAnthony Cordesman, the national security analyst at theCenter for Strategic and International Studies, Khashoggi's "ties to the Muslim Brotherhood do not seem to have involved any links to extremism."[54] According toThe Spectator, "Khashoggi and his fellow travellers believe in imposing Islamic rule by engaging in thedemocratic process", and that "In truth, Khashoggi never had much time for western-style pluralistic democracy", and that he "was a political Islamist until the end, recently praising the Muslim Brotherhood inThe Washington Post", and that he "frequently sugarcoated his Islamist beliefs with constant references to freedom and democracy."[55] According to others, Khashoggi was critical ofSalafism, the ultra-conservative Sunni movement, though "not as aFrench liberal, but as a moderate Muslim reformist".[56][50][42]
Khashoggi was acquainted withOsama bin Laden in the 1980s and 1990s in Afghanistan while bin Laden was championing hisjihad against the Soviets. Khashoggi interviewed bin Laden several times, usually meeting bin Laden inTora Bora, and once more inSudan in 1995.[57][58] According toThe Washington Post columnistDavid Ignatius, "Khashoggi couldn't have traveled with the mujahideen that way without tacit support fromSaudi intelligence, which was coordinating aid to the fighters as part of its cooperation with theCIA against theSoviet Union in Afghanistan. ... Khashoggi criticizedPrince Salman, then governor ofRiyadh and head of the Saudi committee for support to the Afghan mujahideen, for unwisely fundingSalafist extremist groups that were undermining the war."[42]
Al Arabiya reported that Khashoggi once tried to persuade bin Laden to quit violence.[59][42] In 1995 he was sent toKhartoum by the Saudi government to convince bin Laden to abandonjihad, whichCrown Prince Abdullah promised would be reciprocated with a restoration of bin Laden'sSaudi citizenship and readmission into Saudi Arabia. During their first meeting, bin Laden claimed to have moved on to peaceful agricultural and construction projects and repeatedly condemned the use of violence, but refused to allow Khashoggi to record his statements. During their second meeting, bin Laden became more belligerent and called for a military campaign to drive the United States out of theArabian Peninsula. On the third meeting, bin Laden refused to publicly condemn the use of violence without Saudi concessions such as a full pardon or an American military withdrawal.[60]
Khashoggi said: "I was very much surprised [in 1997] to see Osama turning into radicalism the way he did."[37] Khashoggi was the only non-royal Saudi Arabian who knew of the royals' intimate dealing withal-Qaeda in the lead-up to theSeptember 11 attacks. He dissociated himself from bin Laden following the attacks.[55]
Khashoggi wrote in response to theSeptember 11 attacks: "The most pressing issue now is to ensure that our children can never be influenced by extremist ideas like those 15 Saudis who were misled into hijacking four planes that fine September day, piloting them, and us, straight into the jaws of hell."[57]
The New York Times describes that afterSEAL Team Sixkilled Osama bin Laden in 2011, Khashoggi mourned his old acquaintance and what he had become. He wrote on Twitter: "I collapsed crying a while ago, heartbroken for you Abu Abdullah", using bin Laden's nickname, and continued: "You were beautiful and brave in those beautiful days in Afghanistan before you surrendered to hatred and passion."[28]
Khashoggi briefly became the editor-in-chief of the Saudi Arabian dailyAl Watan in 2003.[10][35][61][62] After less than two months, he was dismissed in May 2003 by theSaudi Arabian Ministry of Information because he had allowed a columnist to criticize the Islamic scholarIbn Taymiyyah (1263–1328), who is considered an important figure ofWahhabism.[63] This incident led to Khashoggi's reputation in the West as a liberal progressive.[55]
After he was dismissed, Khashoggi went to London in voluntary exile. There he became an adviser to PrinceTurki Al Faisal.[64] He then served as a media aide to Al Faisal while the latter was Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States.[65] In April 2007, Khashoggi began to work as editor-in-chief ofAl Watan for a second time.[35]
A column by poet Ibrahim al-Almaee challenging the basicSalafi premises was published inAl Watan in May 2010 and led to Khashoggi's second departure, on 17 May 2010.[66]Al Watan announced that Khashoggi resigned as editor-in-chief "to focus on his personal projects". However, it is thought that he was forced out due to official displeasure with articles critical of the Kingdom's harsh Islamic rules.[66] After his second resignation, Khashoggi maintained ties with Saudi Arabian elites, including those in its intelligence apparatus. In 2015, he launched the satellite news channelAl-Arab, based inBahrain outside Saudi Arabia, which does not allow independent news channels to operate within its borders. The news channel was backed by Saudi Arabian billionaire PrinceAlwaleed bin Talal and partnered with U.S. financial news channelBloomberg Television, it was also rumored to have received financial support from the King of Bahrain,Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa.[67] However, it was on air for less than 11 hours before it was shut down by Bahrain.[68][69] He was also a political commentator for Saudi Arabian and international channels, includingMBC,BBC,Al Jazeera, andDubai TV.[32] Between June 2012 and September 2016, his opinion columns were regularly published byAl Arabiya.[70]
Citing a report fromMiddle East Eye,The Independent said in December 2016 that Khashoggi had been banned by Saudi Arabian authorities from publishing or appearing on television "for criticising U.S. President-electDonald Trump".[71]
According to an article fromForensic News, Oren Kesler, then Director of Operations atWikistrat, told a subordinate in a July 2018 email that Jamal Khashoggi worked for Wikistrat, but it is unclear when Khashoggi was hired by Wikistrat.[72] When a Wikistrat employee asked about Khashoggi's recruitment shortly after his death, Kesler denied Khashoggi's employment with the firm. Wikistrat later admitted in an email toForensic News that Khashoggi did in fact work for the firm.[72] Articles published byThe Daily Beast andThe New York Times reported that the founder of Wikistrat, Joel Zamel, met with GeneralAhmed al Assiri, a Saudi general involved in the Khashoggi's assassination, in early 2017 to discuss covert operations to destabilize Iran.[73][74] One of the topics discussed was assassinating dissidents. According to Zamel's lawyers, Zamel turned down the offer to participate in "lethal operations", i.e. assassination operations.[74]
Khashoggi relocated to the United States in June 2017[75] where he continued writing forMiddle East Eye and began writing forThe Washington Post in September 2017.[76] In September 2017, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who felt that Khashoggi's work was tarnishing his image, toldTurki Aldakhil that he would go after Khashoggi "with a bullet".[77] Saudi Arabia used a reputedtroll farm in Riyadh, employing hundreds of people, to harass Khashoggi and other critics of the Saudi regime.[78] Former U.S. intelligence contractorEdward Snowden accused the Saudi government of usingspyware known as"Pegasus" to monitor Khashoggi'scell phone.[79]
According toThe Spectator, "With almost two million Twitter followers, he was the most famous political pundit in the Arab world and a regular guest on the major TV news networks in Britain and the United States."[55] In 2018, Khashoggi established a new political organisation called "Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN)", with the aim of promoting democratic movements in the Arab world.[55] In December 2018,The Washington Post revealed that Khashoggi's columns "at times" were "shaped" by an organization funded by Saudi Arabia's regional nemesis, Qatar, including by proposing his topics, giving him drafts, goading him, and giving him research.[80]
Khashoggi entered theSaudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul on 2 October 2018[81] to obtain documents related to his planned marriage, but noCCTV recorded him exiting.[8][82] Amid news reports claiming that he had beendismembered with abone saw inside the consulate,[83][84] he was declared a missing person.[85] Saudi Arabian and Turkish officials inspected the consulate on 15 October, during which Turkish officials found evidence that Khashoggi had been killed and that chemical experts had tampered with evidence.[86][87]
In November 2018, theCIA concluded that Saudi Crown PrinceMohammed bin Salman had ordered Khashoggi's assassination.[19][20] News reports since early October (based on communication intercepted by the U.S.) had suggested that bin Salman had given direct orders to lure the journalist into the embassy, intending to bring him back to Saudi Arabia in an illegalextraterritorial abduction.[88]
In March 2019,Interpol issuedRed Notices for twenty people wanted in connection to the murder of Khashoggi.[89]
The Saudi Arabian government changed its story several times. Initially, it denied the death and claimed that Khashoggi had left the consulate alive.[91] Eighteen days later, it said he had been strangled inside the consulate during a fistfight.[92] Eighteen Saudis were arrested, including the team of fifteen who had been sent to "confront him".[93][94] The "fistfight" story was contradicted on 25 October when Saudi Arabia'sattorney general said the murder waspremeditated.[95]
Many Saudi critics have been reported missing under similarly suspicious circumstances.[96]
In a 20 June 2019 interview, Saudi Arabia's Minister of State for Foreign AffairsAdel al-Jubeir acknowledged toCNN'sChristiane Amanpour that the murder of Jamal Khashoggi was "gruesome", but he said he disagreed with the conclusion of theUnited Nations' 101-page report, calling it "flawed".[98]
In September 2019, Saudi Crown PrinceMohammed bin Salman stated that he bears the responsibility for Khashoggi's assassination by Saudi operatives "because it happened under my watch", according to aPBS documentary. However, he denied having any prior knowledge of the plot.[99]
On 23 December 2019, a Saudi Arabian court sentenced five officials to death and three others to 24 years in prison.[100]Amnesty International’s Middle East Research Director Lynn Maalouf stated that Saudi Arabia's verdict against the officials was a "whitewash". In a statement released, she said, "The trial has been closed to the public and to independent monitors....the verdict fails to address the Saudi authorities’ involvement."[101] On 22 May 2020, Khashoggi's children pardoned the five officials, which means they will be set free rather than executed.[102]
On 7 September 2020, eight people tied to the murder were sentenced to prison. Their sentences ranged from 7 to 20 years. Saudi Arabia did not release their names.[103]
On 31 October 2018, Istanbul's chief prosecutor released a statement saying that Khashoggi had been strangled as soon as he entered the consulate building, and that his body was dismembered and disposed of.[104] This was the first such accusation by a Turkish government figure.[105] Unknown to the Saudis, the consulate had beenbugged by Turkish intelligence and both the planning and the execution were recorded.[106] His body may have been dissolved inacid, according to Turkish officials,[107] and his last words captured on an audio recording were reported as "I can't breathe."[108] The recording was subsequently released by the Turkish government.[109] Officials believed this recording contained evidence that Khashoggi was assassinated on the orders of theSaudi royal family.[8]
On 25 March 2020, the Istanbul prosecutor's office said that it had prepared an indictment against 20 suspects over the killing of Khashoggi:
For instigating a premeditated murder with the intent of [causing] torment through fiendish instinct
Ahmad Asiri, who was the deputy head of Saudi Arabia's general intelligence at the time of the murder
Saud al-Qahtani, who was a royal court adviser at the time of the murder
As a response, Saudi Arabia refused to extradite the defendants even though after the death of Khashoggi, KingSalman dismissed both al-Qahtani and Asiri from their posts.
The indictment by the Istanbul prosecutor was based on:
Analysis of mobile phone records of the suspects,
Records of their entry and exit into Turkey,
Presence at the consulate,
Witness statements,
Analysis of Khashoggi's phone, laptop, and tablet.[110]
Istanbul prosecutor will try the accused in absentia as none of the accused are in Turkey and seek life sentences for 18 of them and 2 (al-Qahtani and Asiri) with incitement of first-degree murder. In the meantime, Turkey accused Saudi officials of obscuring investigations at the consulate while Saudis said that the Istanbul prosecutor has not complied with their requests to share information.[111]
On 3 July 2020, Hatice Cengiz, the fiancée of Jamal Khashoggi spoke at the opening of the trial of his assassination at the Turkish court stating that theWashington Post columnist was killed by a team of Saudi agents inside the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul through "a great betrayal and deception", and she asked that all persons responsible for his killing be brought to justice.[112]
On 28 September 2020, Turkish prosecutors prepared a second indictment against six Saudi officials involved in the murder of Khashoggi. Earlier in July 2020, the first public trial was opened into Khashoggi's murder against 20 Saudi nationals.[113]
On 7 April 2022, a Turkish court ordered the transfer of the trial to Saudi Arabia, despite the fact that many of the suspects had already been acquitted in Saudi Arabia. The decision was criticized by human rights advocates and lawyers involved in the case.[114]
U.S. SenatorRon Wyden at "Justice for Jamal: The United States and Saudi Arabia One Year After the Khashoggi Murder", theProject on Middle East Democracy (POMED) and 12 other human rights organizations held a public event on Capitol Hill to commemorate his life, to call for accountability, and to cast a light on the repression of those who are perceived to be critical of Crown Prince bin Salman and his regime.
Immediately following the assassination, politicians were divided as to which, if any, economic or other sanctions should be applied to Saudi Arabia.[115][116]
Six weeks after the assassination, the CIA leaked its conclusion thatCrown Prince bin Salman had ordered the assassination. From then on, theU.S. Congress tried without success to force the Trump administration to reveal the U.S. intelligence community's findings.[117]
On 20 November 2018, U.S. PresidentDonald Trump rejected the CIA's conclusion that Crown Prince bin Salman had ordered the killing. He issued a statement saying "it could very well be that the Crown Prince had knowledge of this tragic event – maybe he did and maybe he didn't" and that "In any case, our relationship is with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia."[118] Two days later, Trump denied that the CIA had even reached a conclusion.[119] His statements were criticized by Congressional representatives from both parties, who promised to investigate the matter.[120]Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on theHouse Intelligence Committee, who was briefed by the CIA on the agency assessment, accused President Trump of lying about the CIA findings.[121]
On 13 December, in opposition to the Trump administration's position, theUnited States Senate unanimously passed a resolution that held bin Salman personally responsible for the death of Khashoggi.[122] On the same day, the Senate voted 56–41 to pass legislation to end U.S. military aid for theSaudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen, a vote attributable to senators' desires to punish Saudi Arabia for the Khashoggi murder and for thehumanitarian crisis in Yemen, including afamine andhuman rights violations.[122] This was the first-ever invocation of theWar Powers Act by the Senate.[123] TheU.S. House of Representatives narrowly blocked consideration of any War Powers Resolution restricting U.S. actions relating to Yemen for the rest of the year.[124]
In June 2019, when President Trump and Secretary of StateMike Pompeo met with bin Salman to discuss military matters, they did not bring up the subject of Khashoggi's assassination.[125] A week later, at the2019 G20 Osaka summit, during a group photo of international leaders, Trump shook bin Salman's hand.[126] Pompeo reiterated his efforts to minimize Saudi responsibility in the killing in a book released in January 2023,Never Give an Inch: Fighting for the America I Love, when he returned to his theme that the gruesome death was of little consequence; that the victim was only an "activist." He further described Khashoggi as being, "cozy with the terrorist-supportingMuslim Brotherhood."[127]
On 20 August 2020, theOpen Society Justice Foundation filed a lawsuit in theSouthern District of New York over the killing of Khashoggi. As part of the lawsuit, the group also demanded the release of the Khashoggi report under theFreedom of Information Act.[129] (It was the second lawsuit filed by the initiative involving Khashoggi's assassination. The first was filed in January 2019 with a more general focus, demanding that the CIA and six other federal agencies disclose "all records" relating to the assassination.[117])
According toBob Woodward's bookRage, Trump protected bin Salman from Congress following the murder of Khashoggi. According to an interview with Woodward mentioned in the book, Trump boasted of saving bin Salman's reputation, saying "I saved his ass". Trump also claimed that Saudi Arabia has invested hundreds of billions of dollars into U.S. military equipment and training, and defended his decision to preserve the Saudi relationship as a means of protecting the billions of dollars of annual arms sales between the two countries.[130]
In January 2021, with the incoming U.S. administration underJoe Biden, the newly confirmedDirector of National IntelligenceAvril Haines was pressured to declassify the report on Khashoggi's assassination "without delay". The Trump administration had blocked its declassification despite being legally required to release it.[131][132][117][133][134][135] U.S. senatorRon Wyden asked Haines during her confirmation hearing on 19 January 2021, where she confirmed: "Yes, senator, absolutely. We will follow the law".Agnès Callamard, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings, praised the move, saying the information would provide the "one essential missing piece of the puzzle of the execution of Jamal Khashoggi".[136]
In September 2022,The Wall Street Journal reported that thePublic Interest Declassification Board (PIDB) advised President Biden to declassify the full U.S. intelligence report on the murder of Khashoggi in June 2022, weeks before Biden traveled to Saudi Arabia and met with bin Salman. A declassified summary had been previously released in February 2021, prompting the U.S. to impose sanctions and travel bans on several Saudi security officials, albeit without targeting bin Salman directly.[137]
In response to the 2018 assassination of Jamal Khashoggi,Judge John Bates was said to produce his judgement against crown prince Mohammed bin Salman's involvement in the murder. The decision came to a contradiction whether to consider the prince as an heir to the Saudi throne and thus grant him immunity from the U.S. courts or not since he was still a king-in-waiting. On being allowed to proceed, the case would allow going into the details of the assassination and the potential deposition of the prince or his brother – the Saudi ambassador to the U.S. at the time. Judge Bates’ decision is said to be reliant on that of theBiden administration, whose siding with the prince would lead to havoc amongst human rights advocates. Biden administration's opinion was said to be filed in the court by no later than 17 November.Keith Harper leading the case against the Saudi prince is a formerObama administration official who has criticized the Saudi prince's designation as a Prime Minister a means of attempting to "manipulate the court's jurisdiction".[138]
On 17 November 2022, the Biden administration ruled that Saudi Arabian Crown PrinceMohammed bin Salman has immunity from a lawsuit over the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. Senior Democratic lawmakers sharply criticized the Biden administration's action. Legal experts said that the U.S. government's position will likely lead judgeJohn Bates to dismiss a civil case brought against Prince Mohammed and his alleged accomplices by Hatice Cengiz.[139]
On 29 November 2022, following the assertion from the Biden administration thatMohammed bin Salman was immune to liability as a foreign head of state, Hatice Cengiz urged a U.S. judge to allow her lawsuit to move forward against Saudi Arabian Crown Prince. But, on 6 December 2022, U.S. federal judgeJohn D. Bates dismissed the lawsuit citing Joe Biden's granting of immunity to the prince. Bates also issued a dismissal for two top Mohammed bin Salman aides as well,Saud al-Qahtani andAhmed al-Assiri, on jurisdictional grounds.[140][141]
The Middle East correspondent ofThe Independent,Patrick Cockburn, wrote that the killing of Jamal Khashoggi "is by no means the worst act carried out by Saudi Arabia since 2015, though it is much the best publicised. ... Saudi leaders imagined that, having got away with worseatrocities in Yemen, that any outcry over the death of a single man in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul was something they could handle".[142]
Vanity Fair reported that "several House Republicans have mounted awhisper campaign todiscredit Khashoggi—or at least, to knock his reputation down a few notches—based on his ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, and his role as an embedded journalist who covered Osama bin Laden. ... The campaign to discredit Khashoggi, which might have once been executed surreptitiously, is now front and center on Twitter and echoing onFox News".[143]
Khashoggi was described as an observant Muslim.[144]
Khashoggi was reportedly married and divorced at least three times, though there is contradictory information on to whom he was married and when. With his wife Rawia al-Tunisi he had four children: sons Salah and Abdullah and daughters Noha and Razan Jamal.[145][146][147] He was also married to Alaa Nassif.[4][148] On 2 June 2018, Khashoggi married Hanan Elatr, an Egyptian citizen, in an Islamic Ceremony inAlexandria, Virginia, U.S. She obtained a certified, signed copy of the marriage certificate in July 2021 verifying the marriage.[149] Hanan also produced pictures of their ceremony, and one of Khashoggi's friends additionally confirmed he attended the wedding.[5][6]
Khashoggi's four children were all educated in the U.S. and two of them areU.S. citizens.[150] After his assassination, all four were banned from leaving Saudi Arabia.[151]
At the time of his death Khashoggi was planning to marry Hatice Cengiz, a 36-year-old Ph.D. candidate at a university in Istanbul. The couple had met in May 2018 during a conference in the city. Khashoggi, a Saudi national, visited the Saudi consulate on 2 October to obtain paperwork that would allow him to marry Cengiz.[152]
On 22 April 2018 an Emirati government agency hacked the phone of Jamal Khashoggi's then fiancée, Hanan Elatr, using thePegasus spyware months before the Saudi dissident was murdered.[153]
A "Khashoggi Way" street sign put up in front of theWhite House by activists in February 2019[154]
There have been calls to rename the streets with the Saudi embassy to "Khashoggi Street" or the equivalent. In London,Amnesty International put up a sign with that name outside theSaudi embassy, one month after Khashoggi disappeared into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.[155]
InWashington, D.C., a petition was started to rename theFoggy Bottom street on which theSaudi embassy in Washington DC stands as "Jamal Khashoggi Way".[155] In late November 2018, local officials voted to rename the street in honor of Jamal Khashoggi, subject to approval by thecity council.[156][157] The city council had voted to rename the stretch ofNew Hampshire Avenue in December 2021. On 15 June 2022, the street was renamed "Jamal Khashoggi Way". The street sign unveiling ceremony was held at 1:14 p.m. ET, symbolising the time Khashoggi was last seen before his death on 2 October 2018.Phil Mendelson, president of the District of Columbia Council, said that "The street will serve as a constant reminder, a memorial to Jamal Khashoggi's memory that cannot be covered up".[158]
In May 2023, theLos Angeles city council voted to designate the portion ofWilshire Boulevard in front of the building housing the Saudi Arabian consulate "Jamal Khashoggi Way."[159] The dedication ceremony took place later that year on 2 October, the fifth anniversary of Khashoggi's assassination. The city also placed a sign naming an intersection adjacent to the consulate "Jamal Khashoggi Square," with text reading: "A journalist and advocate for democracy slain by the Saudi government."[160]
The "Jamal Khashoggi - Award for Courageous Journalism 2019" (JKA) was instituted, awarding five projects up to US$5,000 each to support investigative journalistic projects.[162][163]
AShowtime original documentary,Kingdom of Silence, about the murder of Khashoggi was released on 2 October 2020, to mark the second anniversary of his death.[164]
In 2020, a documentary on the assassination of Khashoggi and the role played by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was made byOscar-winning film director and producer,Bryan Fogel. However, it took eight months for Fogel to find a streaming service forThe Dissident, which was released by an independent company.[165][166]
Many of Khashoggi's banned articles were made available inthe Uncensored Library to circumvent censorship laws.[167]
^Hubbard, Ben; Gladstone, Rick; Landler, Mark (16 October 2018)."Trump Jumps to the Defense of Saudi Arabia in Khashoggi Case".The New York Times.Archived from the original on 20 November 2018. Retrieved17 October 2018.Mr. Khashoggi, who wrote columns for The Washington Post, lived in the United States, and his 60th birthday was on Saturday [13 October].
^abcde"Speakers". International Public Relations Association – Gulf Chapter (IPRA-GC). 2012. Archived fromthe original on 11 May 2012. Retrieved10 May 2012.
^abKessler, Ronald (1987),Khashoggi: the rise and fall of the world's richest man, Corgi, p. 41,ISBN978-0552130608
^Rugman, Jonathan (2019).The Killing in the Consulate: Investigating the Life and Death of Jamal Khashoggi. London: Simon & Schuster.ISBN978-1-4711-8475-8.OCLC1121616425.
^Souad Mekhennet; Greg Miller (22 December 2018)."Jamal Khashoggi's final months as an exile in the long shadow of Saudi Arabia".The Washington Post.Archived from the original on 27 December 2018. Retrieved27 December 2018.his connections to an organization funded by Saudi Arabia's regional nemesis, Qatar. Text messages between Khashoggi and an executive at Qatar Foundation International show that the executive, Maggie Mitchell Salem, at times shaped the columns he submitted to The Washington Post, proposing topics, drafting material and prodding him to take a harder line against the Saudi government. Khashoggi also appears to have relied on a researcher and translator affiliated with the organization
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