What Happened to Jamal Khashoggi?

We need answers on journalist's disappearance, and possible murder, in Turkey: editorial
By Newser Editors,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 8, 2018 10:20 AM CDT
What Happened to Jamal Khashoggi?
Members of the Turkish-Arab Media Association hold posters with photos of missing Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi as they hold a protest near the Saudi Arabia Consulate in Istanbul on Monday.   (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

Is Jamal Khashoggi alive or dead? It's time the US got involved to determine the truth about the missing Saudi Arabian journalist, declares an editorial in the Washington Post. Khashoggi, who contributes to the Post, hasn't been seen since Tuesday, when he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Turkish officials claim the Saudis murdered him, but the Saudis deny it, and Turkey hasn't produced any proof. "If true, this is a horrific crime, the assassination of a journalist in his own country's consulate on foreign soil—something without precedent in modern times," says the editorial. Saudi Arabia must explain the suspicious arrival in the country of 15 security officials just before Khashoggi's disappearance, and Turkey must produce clear evidence to back up its claims.

"The United States, too, should demand answers, loud and clear," says the editorial, noting that President Trump has been on good terms with the de facto Saudi leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. "The United States must now make a concerted effort to determine all the facts about Mr. Khashoggi's disappearance," write the editors. And if the Saudis balk at cooperation, Congress should suspend all military cooperation with the nation. Peter Bergen of CNN writes that he has known Khashoggi for a decade. "If Khashoggi had left the consulate unharmed"—as the crown prince himself insists—"it's inconceivable he wouldn't have informed his fiancee, family, friends, and colleagues at the Washington Post," Bergen notes. (More Jamal Khashoggi stories.)

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