Murder in the embassy

Jamal Khashoggi disappeared into the Saudi consulate in Ankara on 1st October, eight days later he is yet to re-emerge

One thing common to all dictatorships is their desperation to silence every appearance of opposition. They also desperately try to paralyse their citizens' initiative, innovation, activism and creativity. You will probably agree that this is the very reason these dictatorships lag behind in development and have to depend on the West. These people conveniently forget that those who rule by fear can only do so for a while.  Right now, in this blog's estimation, the three most desperate dictatorships in the world are Russia, North Korea and Saudi Arabia.

However, the most interesting case is Saudi Arabia. With the emergence of a swashbuckling Crown Prince, the world was made to believe that Mohammed bin Salman would bring Saudi Arabia into the present especially with the 'reforms' he introduced. The so-called reforms may yet be a ruse after all.




You would have noticed that the Crown Prince, as the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, refuses to countenace any form of criticism. Remember his recent spat with Canada. Ironically, the man desperately wants to be friends with leaders of the world's top democracies namely United States, Britain and Germany. At the same time, he is determined to do anything to deny people back home the exact freedoms enjoyed by people who live in those countries. These include freedom of expression.




Anyone would have thought that Jamal Khashoggi who originated from the desert kingdom had the right to comment on what has been happening in Saudi Arabia. The authorities seemed to have a different opinion.



Jamal Khashoggi is pictured going into the Saudi consulate

Perhaps Saudi authorities were particularly riled by the prospect of the damage that could be done by a former insider.  He was close to Prince Turki bin Faisal, the former head of Saudi intelligence and ambassador to both London and Washington.  Frighteningly, he was now a dissident. You will have to add to that the fact that Khashoggi was also a journalist.  Remember as well that he had chosen to be singing from far away Washington.



The Crown Prince must have decided that Khashoggi had to be stopped. A two-pronged strategy was adopted. Unknown to him, while he was being stalked to be liquidated he was also negotiating with the crown prince to return to the kingdom.

Therefore, when Khashoggi foolishly walked into a Saudi consulate in Turkey on 1st October, 2018, he was simply walking into a lions' den. The rest, they say, is history.

Late on Monday the US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, weighed in.  He said, “We call on the government of Saudi Arabia to support a thorough investigation of Mr Khashoggi’s disappearance and to be transparent about the results of that investigation.”