Bhanubhakta Acharya, PhD Researcher at University of Ottawa | Nepal
Silencing critical voices against authoritarian regimes has been a political strategy for decades and centuries. One of the recent victims of the silencing strategy is Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a columnist of The Washington Post. In his posthumously published article on The Washington Post (October 17), Khashoggi demanded an independent platform for Arab voices to embody the spirit of Arab Spring because governments in the Middle East are more repressive against critical voices.
Khashoggi was disappeared on October 2 in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, when he visited the office to obtain divorce paperwork with his ex-wife so that he could marry his Turkish fiancée. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the US has recently concluded that Saudi Crown Prince ordered the assassination of Khashoggi but US President Donald Trump is not ready to accept the fact owing to his personal and national trade interests with the Kingdom. This article argues that crime against press freedom seems to be traded for the political and economic advantages that may lead to more serious consequences than the crime itself.
Khashoggi’s murder
Former Saudi government advisor, Khashoggi was a sharp critic of the current political leadership of Saudi Arabia (SA) since the rise of Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman with regards to corruption, arbitrary arrests of Saudi nationals, military intervention in Yemen, and economic blockade to Qatar. Khashoggi, due to his critical editorial policy, was sacked from the Al-Watan newspaper, and his Twitter account with 1.75 million followers was banned in the country. The growing hostile situation made him flee the country declaring a self-imposed exile. He began to write a column on The Washington Post since October 2017 with a focus on the Middle East political affairs and freedom of expression.
When Turkish media broke the information that Khashoggi was disappeared within the SA consulate premises, the SA Government initially insisted that he left the consulate alive. When Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan strongly demanded the information on the whereabouts of the journalist, SA government admitted on October 20 that Khashoggi was killed during a ‘fistfight’, and also insisted that the SA Government was not aware of the incident. After 5 days, the SA admitted that Khashoggi’s murder was premeditated; he was tortured and killed in the consulate premises.
Turkish newspaper Yeni Safak reported that two senior security staffs —now sacked from the job— of the SA Crown Prince were involved in Skype video to watch the torture live. SA Consulate General in Istanbul Mohammad al-Qtaibi was also aware of this premeditated activity. Turkish President Erdogan called Khashoggi’s killing a political murder, and insisted that the suspects would be tried in Turkey. According to him, Khashoggi was brutally murdered by a team of 15 Saudi agents arrived by two chartered flights on the day of Khashoggi’s disappearance, and his body was disposed of to an unknown location.
Trump’s business interest
US President Donald Trump initially rejected the information about the killing of the journalist inside the consulate. Later he said, “rouge agents” may be responsible for the murder, but he did not believe Saudi King and the Prince had prior knowledge of the incident. When Trump was asked, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, if he trusts the claims made by the Saudi royals. Trump clearly said, “I really want to believe them.” This is why he undermined the findings of the CIA that Khashoggi’s killing was ordered by the SA Crown Prince.
American media, including The Washington Post and The New York Times reported that President Trump has a long business ties with Saudi Arabian high profile people including the King and Prince. In a tweet on October 20, Trump denied any kind of financial interests in SA, and, as usual, labeled the media speculations as “fake news.” But it was found that the Trump Organization (TO) has closely worked with Saudi royals and officials for decades, and received millions of dollars for a variety of business deals. A Saudi royal family member purchased the Trump’s Plaza Hotel for $325 million in 1995. Similarly, the Saudi government purchased the 45th floor of the Trump World Tower for 4.5 million in 2001. Furthermore, Trump’s daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner have business relations with Saudi Prince.
American media speculate that Trump favored business with SA over a crime against a US residence because of Trump’s long commercial ties with the Kingdom. He sent US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to meet with Saudi Prince and the King on October 16 and discuss the whereabouts of Khashoggi, as an effort to resolve the issue on Saudi’s favor. On the same day, US government received $100 million payment from SA, related to the US military support in Syria. The New York Times contends, “The timing of this [payment] is no coincidence.”
Silencing for financial interest
The state-sponsored brutal murder of a popular journalist is likely to be an opportunity for financial bargaining with Saudi Arabia by the major economies of the world. Most of the Western leaders cautiously reacted against the incident as “serious crime” but they were unlikely to jeopardize ties with the Saudi monarchy and hinder their business. Trump straightforwardly declined to cancel the $110-billion-worth military weapons deal with SA with an argument that the cancellation of the deal would hurt more to American people than Saudi Arabians, and China and Russia may take advantage of selling weapons.
Canada currently has a bitter diplomatic relationship with SA since August when Canada criticized the SA government over arrests of human rights activists, and SA considered the criticism as a “blatant interference in the Kingdom’s domestic affairs”. Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke very carefully on Khashoggi’s murder case to improve their fragile bilateral relationship. Trudeau is aware that SA might cancel $15 billion-dollar weapon deal with Canada if he strongly criticizes the murder. Trudeau briefly raised the issue of Khoshoggi’s murder in the G-20 summit in Argentina on December 1, but most of the delegates did not pay attention. Australia was optimistic to boost up military equipment sales to SA during the business summit in Riyadh. Australian government officials, therefore, declined to comment on the journalist’s murder, reasoning that investigation of the murder is ongoing. French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Theresa May reacted diplomatically that Khashoggi’s murder might have very “serious consequences” to SA, but their business relationships with SA have remained intact. Germany is the only G7 country that announced to suspend all military equipment exports to SA until investigations continue into the disappearance of Khashoggi.
Moreover, Turkish President Erdogan had promised to reveal the “naked truth” of Khashoggi’s murder in the parliament on October 23, coinciding with the inauguration day of the investment conference (October 23-25) in Riyadh. Erdogan, however, did not reveal any new evidence, nor he blamed the Saudi King or the Prince for their involvement in the murder. Rather, he said SA admitted the murder and those responsible would be held accountable. Additionally, Saudi King and Turkish President agreed to exchange information and co-operate in the investigation of Khashoggi’s murder case. Singapore newspaper The Straits Times writes, “Mr Erdogan needs US cooperation if he intends to secure a financial windfall from Saudi Arabia in exchange for holding back evidence of involvement in the killing.” Meaning, Turkey also wants to use Khashoggi’s murder case as an opportunity to bargain financial security with SA and the US.
Conclusion
It has become clear that Khashoggi’s murder is a state-sponsored crime against press freedom that intended to silence a critical voice, which lobbied for democracy through writing, opposed SA’s economic blockade against Qatar, and believed in the separation of religion and state.
Saudi officials have been not only attempting to spoil evidence that lead to whereabouts of Khashoggi’s body, but also assessing SA’s business influence over the Western countries in their favour. In other words, standing firmly against Khashoggi’s gruesome murder seems to be deeply muddled by financial interest of many countries across the globe. The case of Khashoggi’s murder is not just a deplorable crime against press freedom, but also a hint that critical voices are not safe even in foreign land due to growing financial interests among countries.
December 2, 2018
Acharya is a research scholar at the University of Ottawa, Canada
