It is fairly imaginable who killed Jamal Khashoggi. So now, it’s time to reflect on the reasons why he was killed. Whether Khashoggi really was a rebellious dissenter against the hegemonic rule in the Middle East is, perhaps, the more important question to ask.
Ever since his mysterious disappearance, Khashoggi is being widely labeled as a radical critic of the House of Saud. But another important question to ask is: When did he start criticizing the royal family? Khashoggi, who has also been tagged as a contributor to the Washington Post, wrote with a view to political reform in the Middle East. But how about his writings outside his English journalism career? How much of these writeups put forward a reformist viewpoint?
Let’s take a look at the picture below. The person standing in the middle, proudly posing with a rocket-launcher in his hands, is Jamal Khashoggi. The picture was taken in Afghanistan during the Afghan war when Khashoggi was one of the closest accomplices of his friend from high school- Osama Bin Laden.
Khashoggi (in the middle of the left picture) with rocket-launcher bearing Mujahideen in Afghanistan
Khashoggi did not take part in the war directly. However, he was able to write for Arab News from the Al-Qaeda controlled war zone on a regular basis in 1988. This was at a time when the CIA blatantly rolled out a guerrilla war against the Soviet-backed government in Afghanistan, funded by the Saud Dynasty. Khashoggi was a de facto soldier in the war owing to his thick and true-blue relationship with the Saud dynasty.
Jamal Khashoggi’s grandfather, Mohammad Khashoggi, was the private physician of Grand Saud Abdul Aziz, a connection that eventually gave Khashoggi the passcode to the Saudi high-society. Mohammad Khashoggi was born in Turkey, which is why the family also has a close connection with the country. Adnan Khashoggi, Jamal Khashoggi’s uncle, was a notorious arms dealer, who was the head honcho in the Iran-Contra scandal during president Ronald Reagan’s tenure in the USA. Details of the close collaboration between Adnan Khashoggi, Ronald Reagan and CIA in the scandal were later published in the Panama Leaks.
Adnan Khashoggi was the frontman in CIA’s arms dealings with Iran- profits from which were used to unite the Contra guerillas in Nicaragua against the revolutionary government- making the Khashoggi family a close ally to the US establishment. It was never the free media that the family historically advocated for, rather they were instrumental in the inter-state affairs that benefited USA and the Saud family.
Among the Sauds, Khashoggi was especially close to Prince Turki Al Faisal Al Saud, which is pretty sensible since Prince Turki had been the chief of foreign intelligence for the Sauds for 23 years. Interestingly, Prince Turki was also the binding force behind the Afghan Mujahideen. Khashoggi held top positions at Al-Watan, a newspaper owned by Prince Turki’s brother Khalid Al Faisal, in 2003 and 2007. But after Prince Turki’s appointment as the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the United States, Khashoggi moved to USA with the prince and got in touch with the local media, eventually landing the role of a columnist with Washington Post.
Khashoggi’s ideology of journalism is quite anomalous in the sense that in his Arabic writings he bolstered the rights of the Palestinians, while the issue is completely absent from his works in English. Moreover, he was vocal about political reformation in the Western media, but supported the local rulers, nevertheless, in the Arab media. Eventually, Khashoggi became the key intermediary between the American media and the Sauds, making him intimate even with Prince Turki. Financed by Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz al Saud, he opened a news channel named “Al-Arab” in Manama, Bahrain. Meanwhile, Prince Mohammad Bin Salman won the race among the House of Saud to be the crowned prince, cornering both Prince Talal and Prince Turki, and hence began the miserable days of Khashoggi.
Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman rather radically changed the decision-making process of the Sauds, the family that traditionally made decisions with the participation of all of the powerful princes. After his take over of the throne, Prince Mohammad Bin Salman has consolidated the power to himself and marked Prince Talal and Turki as enemies to the crowned Prince, and arrested Prince Talal. Despite being an influential investor in some of the biggest global corporations-including the likes of City Group, Apple and Twitter-Prince Talal couldn’t be saved from the wrath of the crowned prince.
In the meantime, Khashoggi moved to USA and came apart from the royal power of the Sauds. However, his tie-in with the Washington media became a worrying factor for Prince Salman and his associates as Khashoggi emanated the internal clash among the House of Saud to the powerful Western media. Besides, Khashoggi’s meeting with the Amir of Qatar, who is deemed to be an arch enemy of the crowned prince, in a New York hotel intensified Prince Salman’s wrath against him. It is to be noted that the Sauds are historically vengeful toward defiants, and get even more furious if the defiant once used to be on their side. According to many human rights organizations, apparently this was the case for Khashoggi.
However, it would be a blatant lie to say that Khashoggi was a dissenter of the Kingdom, rather he acted as an instrument to the House of Sauds almost his whole life.
Since Khashoggi was a known sympathizer of the Muslim Brotherhood, he lived under special security measures in Turkey, which is the reason behind his close acquaintance with the Turkish government. This is also deemed to be the prime reason behind the government’s eager drive to unfold the mystery behind Khashoggi’s disappearance. Besides, his involvement with the Washington Post and The Guardian made it look more audacious to the eyes of the media.
Therefore, it would be completely ludicrous to assume that the sheer eagerness of Turkey or Washington regarding the killing of Khashoggi is a fight for the freedom of speech or media for that matter.
Translated by: Abu Naser Rayhan
Altaf Parvez is an independent researcher and author of numerous books on Bangladesh and South Asian politics
