• Welcome to Religious Forums, a friendly forum to discuss all religions in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
    • Access to private conversations with other members.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

What happened to the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi

magid

Member
More than 9 or 10 days elapsed since his disappearance after his visit to Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.
Do you think truth will be declared or not.
 

exchemist

Veteran Member
More than 9 or 10 days elapsed since his disappearance after his visit to Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.
Do you think truth will be declared or not.
Not by the Saudi government, no.

But if, as I read today, Kashoggi's fiancee has a recording of his screams as he was tortured, transmitted by his Apple Watch, then the truth will become known soon enough.

Poor woman.
 

Jumi

Well-Known Member
Turkey says it has evidence that Khashoggi was tortured and murdered at the embassy. But we'll see. I feel really bad for his wife-to-be...
 

Anthem

Active Member
Looks like Saudis are preparing a report in which they admit it was an interrogation gone too far and that the participants would be held responsible.

Could be a rumor.
 

exchemist

Veteran Member
Looks like Saudis are preparing a report in which they admit it was an interrogation gone too far and that the participants would be held responsible.

Could be a rumor.
Yes.

But there is another nasty rumour - I heard it on the BBC at 1300BST today - that one of the 15 men (yes 15) who flew in from KSA on the day he disappeared was carrying a bone saw.
 

Anthem

Active Member
Yes.

But there is another nasty rumour - I heard it on the BBC at 1300BST today - that one of the 15 men (yes 15) who flew in from KSA on the day he disappeared was carrying a bone saw.
Yeah. But that doesn't contradict the first one. Unless you mean they killed him on purpose and that it would have been an accident is a lie.
 

exchemist

Veteran Member
Yeah. But that doesn't contradict the first one. Unless you mean they killed him on purpose and that it would have been an accident is a lie.
Well , you don't bring a bone saw in order to torture somebody, do you? But you do if want to dismember a body and smuggle it out in pieces in diplomatic baggage......

I must say this is pretty macabre.
 

Jumi

Well-Known Member
Perhaps they accidentally tortured him also... at least Trump would like that so he can sell the 100B$ worth of weapons to S.A. he was planning to.
 

exchemist

Veteran Member
Perhaps they accidentally tortured him also... at least Trump would like that so he can sell the 100B$ worth of weapons to S.A. he was planning to.
Er, yerrs, I agree, one does get the feeling there is a concerted effort going on to help MbS get out off the hook. I wonder how the Turks are playing it - they are the ones with the real evidence, apparently.
 

Jumi

Well-Known Member
Er, yerrs, I agree, one does get the feeling there is a concerted effort going on to help MbS get out off the hook. I wonder how the Turks are playing it - they are the ones with the real evidence, apparently.
They're in a bind for sure with their allies wanting this to go away.
 

Anthem

Active Member
SA media ignored it perfectly

So what's been the reaction to Jamal Khashoggi's alleged murder inside Saudi Arabia? NPR's Deborah Amos has covered Saudi Arabia for years, and we asked her to dig into that question.

Hey, Deb.

DEBORAH AMOS, BYLINE: Hi, there.

KELLY: How is the Saudi media reporting this story?

AMOS: You know, I looked it up. The top story in the Arab News is a quote from a Turkish official urging the public to ignore the leaks over the Khashoggi story. In the Saudi Gazette, the top story is about a water park. And then a little further down, there's a highlight - there's a picture of President Trump. And the headline says "U.S. Needs Saudi Arabia."

The government-controlled media has stuck to this narrative that was offered by the crown prince in an interview he gave to Bloomberg News. And that is that the journalist came to pick up his papers to get married, and then he left. You see alternative explanations in social media - that he's really in Qatar, which is a country seen as an enemy of the kingdom, or maybe his fiancee killed him. You see these conspiracy theories to explain the disappearance.

Of course, Saudis can search the Web for coverage, say, in the U.S. media. But the dissonance is striking. This unprecedented golden coverage of the new Saudi Arabia has been replaced by these dark stories of hit squads and brutal torture.

KELLY: It's interesting listening to you. And I'm thinking of the parallels to what Khashoggi himself wrote in his final column that The Washington Post just published. And he was writing about how, in the Arab world, they are so subject to false narratives and these conspiracy theories.

AMOS: Yeah, he did talk about that. It's really telling. He described the effect of these state-run narratives. And he calls, you know, people victims, the majority of the population who believe it. But I think there's something bigger going on here. This is about the way Saudis, especially young Saudis, see the crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman.

KELLY: Well, stay with that for a second. We've been talking about how the press is covering this. Is it possible to gauge how ordinary Saudis are following this?

AMOS: You can see some reactions. Social media is where you see it - shock, disbelief, fear.

You know, when the crown prince - he's known as MBS in the kingdom - first came to power, he built this cult of personality. He was young; he was dynamic. And young Saudis - and that's a huge part of the population - they saw him as one of them. They would say, we love him. He got them. And he said he would transform the country. And in some ways, he did. He's reined in the religious police. He's permitted women to drive and to work. He's reopened movie theaters. All of that is a really big deal.

The new Saudi Arabia got all this great coverage. It was suddenly cool to be a Saudi. But now the country is getting this relentless narrative across the globe. So you find Saudis - they're angry about it. They're afraid. You hear, you need our oil; you need our money. Why are you attacking us? There's no hard evidence, they say. There's no official proof.

KELLY: Well, so does that translate into the Saudi public buying the official government narrative of what happened?

AMOS: I think yes and no. I've been covering Saudi Arabia for decades, and people I've known for years are now afraid to talk to me. There's fear of getting caught as a dissident, getting caught talking to a Western journalist. There appears to be fear of the unknown. When the crown prince came to power, he created this tornado of ultranationalism. His face is everywhere in the kingdom. So for some, they have rallied behind him. Some of them are changing their Twitter pictures to his.

KELLY: Oh, wow. Is there any room for dissent or for free press or alternative narrative inside Saudi Arabia? Because there used to be before the crown prince.

AMOS: That is true. But this crackdown from the crown prince has been unprecedented. And the methods include travel bans, house arrest, detention without charge, even forced divorce in one case. There's a bot army. You can be attacked on social media. You get swarmed online. The other thing is the palace has criminalized dissent with a law that punishes spreading fake news and rumors with a five-year jail term and a hefty fine, even if that information is just stored on a computer.

KELLY: And just briefly, were those measures in place before the Khashoggi case?

AMOS: They were. Article 6 of the Anti-Cyber Law (ph) was introduced because of Yemen. But it was pointedly republished on October 13, apparently to quell any speculation over the disappearance of a prominent journalist.

KELLY: So just five days ago.

Text-Only NPR.org : Saudi Arabians React To The Alleged Murder Of Journalist Jamal Khashoggi
 

Altfish

Veteran Member
The problem with this issue is that we have Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the Trump Presidency giving different versions.

All are rogue states, you can believe none of them and none of them would recognise the truth if it hit them between the eyes.

The only hope is investigative journalists that the three governments will then berate as fake news.
 

Jumi

Well-Known Member
SA media ignored it perfectly
Not surprised, their media is strictly controlled. So you wouldn't hear any negatives about ruling people.

Besides one of the head suspects died in a car accident now, so the lines are cut.
 

Jumi

Well-Known Member
The problem with this issue is that we have Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the Trump Presidency giving different versions.
It's basically SA and Trump (thinking of the arms he could sell) versus Turkey with the rest of the world not wanting to get too involved.
 

sayak83

Veteran Member
Staff member
Premium Member
And yet some don't care what evil is committed by another country as long as we can make a profit off of it.
One day the Saudi govt. will fall and all the arms USA is selling will fall in the hands of an Osama like figure who will use them against America....
 

sun rise

The world is on fire
Premium Member
One day the Saudi govt. will fall and all the arms USA is selling will fall in the hands of an Osama like figure who will use them against America....
I agree that the lifespan of their current government is limited. The second need not happen.
 
Top