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Jamal Khashoggi's friends and associates held a press conference Wednesday at the Washington Post offices to look for answers to the disappearance of the journalist who disappeared a week ago (Oct. 10).
AP
A Shiite Muslim Kashmir screams on the slogan of an Indian police vehicle after his arrest at a protest in Srinagar in 2015. Members of the Shia Muslim community of Kashmir clashed in protest over the Execution of Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al Nimr and 46 other people. political dissidents of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.(Photo: EPA)
LONDON – A member of a protest art group in Moscow is temporarily unable to see, speak or walk – probably as a result of a nervous poison. A popular YouTube satirist from the Middle East is beaten in the streets of London. The most famous actress of China disappears. The same goes for the boss of the largest international police organization in the world.
Jamal Khashoggi, dissident journalist critic of the oil-rich kingdom, revealed that Saudi Arabia may have helped orchestrate a brazen plot aimed at kidnapping and even assassination. They again highlighted the threats to journalists, activists, reform advocates and all their voices and platforms against discrimination, human rights violations and corruption. while falling on the wrong side of government policy.
Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Muhammad bin Salman, de facto leader of the country since 2017, presided over the arrest of hundreds of activists, officials, writers, clerics and even d & # 39; Opponents within his own royal family in order to suppress dissent and consolidate power. , according to Freedom House, a group defending civil liberties.
The Saudi government firmly denies any allegation linking him to Khashoggi's disappearance. He was last seen in the consulate of Saudi Arabia in Istanbul on October 2nd. Khashoggi, an American resident, was there that day to obtain a document allowing him to marry his Turkish bride. Turkish officials say they have convincing audio and video evidence suggesting Khashoggi was tortured, murdered and dismembered. US intelligence officials also intercepted communications indicating that the Saudis had discussed a plan to capture Khashoggi in Saudi Arabia.
The investigation is still ongoing. Be that as it may, it is clear that Saudi Arabia has long suppressed peaceful dissidents. In May, he arrested 12 women's rights activists, including Loujain al-Hathloul, a "right to drive" activist, just weeks before the monarchy officially ended the ban on female drivers. Previously, in 2014, during an incident that had bizarre similarities to the Khashoggi accident, Al-Hathloul had been "surrendered" by the Saudis – to Riyadh from Abu Dhabi – for attempting to drive a car inside the kingdom.
More: The missing journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, tortured and dismembered in the consulate of Saudi Arabia, according to a report
"If Prince Muhammad bin Salman wants to reform Saudi Arabia, the best reform would be to release all our political prisoners," said Ensaf Haidar, wife of Raif Badawi, writer and social activist jailed in Saudi Arabia after being hit with religious authorities.
Badawi was arrested in Jeddah in 2012 for "insulting Islam by electronic means". He was a blogger and, according to his wife, a humanist and a free thinker. In 2013, he was convicted of several counts, including apostasy, and sentenced to 7 years and 600 lashes, a form of punishment with a whip or a stick that the United Nations qualifies. cruel and inhuman. One year later, the prison term increased to 10 years and 1,000 lashes. Badawi suffers from high blood pressure and Haidar, who was granted asylum in Canada with her three children, said her husband's health was deteriorating. "I hope that President Trump can help release my husband," she said to the question whether Khashoggi's case would bring a new examination of Badawi's fate. One of Badawi's alleged crimes was to make fun of Saudi Arabia's ban on celebrating Valentine's Day.
Last year, the Lebanese president accused Saudi Arabia of having captured his former prime minister, Saad Hariri, and his family, as part of an attempt to force him to resignation. The Saudis would be unhappy with Lebanon's support for Iran, a bitter Saudi rival, and its allies such as the Shiite Hezbollah group. Saudi Arabia challenged the allegation.
Nevertheless, Saudi Arabia is not the only one to apparently deal with those who are not willing to follow the party line. In fact, harassment, intimidation, arbitrary detention, violence and even murder committed by the state are fairly common tactics used by authoritarian and non-liberal governments to crush dissent, according to dozens of reports and studies. published by organizations such as Human Rights Watch and Freedom House. .
This year alone, 27 journalists were murdered in Brazil, the Central African Republic, India, Mexico and even in the European Union and the United States, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. In the last 26 years, 848 people have been killed.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the British media on Saturday that incidents such as the disappearance of Khashoggi were becoming "the new apparent normality".
In Iran, eight environmentalists spent eight months in prison without being clearly charged. Ogulsapar Muradova, an activist and investigative journalist for Radio Free Europe, was tortured and killed while he was in government custody in Turkmenistan. In Venezuela, Fernando Alban, advisor to the opposition party and fierce critic of President Nicolás Maduro, died last week after his arrest in Caracas.
The Maduro regime said that Alban had committed suicide by leaving the 10th floor of the headquarters of Venezuela's intelligence agency. Critics say that he was executed.
More: The White House accuses the regime of Venezuelan President Maduro of being responsible for the death of the leader of the opposition
Ghanem al-Dosari, a Saudi human rights activist known for his satirical videos on YouTube ridiculing the Saudi royal family, was attacked last month in front of the London department store Harrods. His assailants shouted slogans favorable to the Saudi government. Al-Dosari fled Saudi Arabia in 2003. He has never returned.
Hollywood's Hollywood star, Fan Bingbing, has mysteriously disappeared from the public scene for three months this summer with $ 130 million in allegations of tax evasion, letting it be presumed that she was reportedly arrested, jailed, and imprisoned. "rehabilitated". A fan resurfaced earlier this month with long and abundant apologies to the Chinese government.
In addition, this month: Meng Hongwei, former leader of Interpol, one of China's most prominent international officials and holder of a position in Chinese security, has disappeared after returning to China. The Chinese government later stated that it was "under investigation" for violation of unspecified laws.
The message from the Chinese government seems pretty clear: no matter who you are and wherever you are, we can contact you if we wish.
The German authorities have concluded that Pyotr Verzilov, a member of the Russian feminist punk band and the activist group Pussy Riot, was probably deliberately poisoned by a nerve agent. During the summer, Verzilov ran on a pitch during the final phase of the Football World Cup at an anti-government demonstration in Moscow, which was seen by millions of people around the world whole. Verzilov has had several trouble with Russian security agencies and other members of Pussy Riot have been imprisoned. He was also investigating the case of three Russian journalists killed in the center of the Democratic Center of Congo in August while he was investigating a private military company with links to the Kremlin.
And there is a long and complex history of Russian deaths and unexplained criminal acts in the UK under mysterious and suspicious circumstances, ranging from poisonous umbrellas to radioactive substances, to the saga of the United States. former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia – poisoned by a Soviet-made neurotoxic agent in the provincial town of Salisbury earlier this year.
The British government concluded that Moscow was behind the poisoning of the Skripals, but Alexander Yakovenko, Russia 's ambassador to London, told reporters on Friday that the charges were simply the result of the death penalty. a concerted effort by the administration of Prime Minister Theresa May and other Western democracies, including the United States, to discredit Russia.
"No, we do not accept that," Yakovenko said in response to a question about whether two men accused by Britain of traveling to Salisbury for killing Skripal were undercover officers deployed by GRU, the Russian intelligence agency.
More: Senate Speaker for Foreign Relations: Saudis responsible for missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi
More: What we know (and do not know) about the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi
Ali Al-Ahmed, a Washington-based Saudi scholar who claims to have been the target of attempts by the Saudi government to buy his silence about his negative views on the monarchy, as well as a specific effort several years ago aimed at letting him get away with it. attracting to different countries, notably Turkey, declared Saudi Arabia "to a system of masters and slaves, princes and poor" and that is what, together with the refusal Saudis to consider an increase in political freedoms and reforms, has caused the creation of a people like Khashoggi, a regular contributor to the government. The Global Opinions section of the Washington Post, to talk about.
"I am a Republican," he said, referring to the form of government and not the political party. "I believe in equality.I am anti-monarchical and think it's sacrilege to have one."
Al-Ahmed said that he knew Khashoggi but that they were not friendly as a result of personal and professional disagreements. He said he did not dare to enter an embassy or consulate in Saudi Arabia since he had tried to renew his passport several years ago.
"(Prince Muhammad bin Salman) is a megalomaniac," he said. "The guy thinks that no one can touch him and that he can do what he wants." Look, he has taken Lebanon's prime minister hostage, and what happened? Nothing happened … I mean, who does that? "
More: Bulgarian journalist Viktoria Marinova, third journalist murdered in the EU last year
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