On Oct. 3, Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed while visiting the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, to obtain papers to marry his fiancee. According to Turkish officials, within minutes of entering the building, Khashoggi was tortured and eventually killed by dismemberment. His fiancee, who waited for him to return for nearly an entire day, was worried Khashoggi would be kidnapped and extradited back to Saudi Arabia where he had sought asylum from in Turkey.
Though the Saudi government denies any affiliation with his death, an audio recording possessed by the Turkish government details Khashoggi’s death, according to a New York Times article written by Carlotta Gall and David D. Kirkpatrick. The audio recording allegedly details how 15 men with ties to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia attacked Khashoggi as he entered the consulate and killed him within 10 minutes. This was found after pressure was put onto the Turkish government to investigate, as Khashoggi is well known in Turkey and the U.S., and has previously written for The Washington Post.
“Listen to the music,” said a Saudi doctor of forensics who was brought in to assist agents in carrying out the murder, according to the New York Times. He claimed afterwards that was a way to deal with the “tension of his work.” This gruesome recording, which the U.S. is currently working to obtain, is apparently not solid evidence. However, as of Tuesday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in the Saudi capital Riyadh and was seen shaking hands with the Crown Prince. President Trump even said in an interview with the Associated Press that Saudi Arabia is innocent until proven guilty. However, the Saudi government had gone as far as to prepare to admit to Khashoggi’s accidental death as an ‘interrogation gone wrong,’ as of Monday. Before this could be released, though, Secretary Pompeo arrived in Saudi Arabia.
Whether or not the Saudi government will claim Khashoggi’s death is still up in the air, but according to an article by Laura Smith-Spark for CNN, an incident like this could not have happened without the Crown Prince’s knowledge. Although the U.S. is clearly worried about its relationship with Saudi Arabia, there is a clear call of concern from Americans on both political sides to seek out the truth in the case, not just to maintain the country’s international relationship.
Alyssa Moncrief is a freshman political science and journalism major from Jackson.
