Joe Biden meets Mohammed bin Salman in Saudi Arabia | DW News

 

US President Joe Biden said the murder of journalist Jamal Kashoggi was "at the top the meeting" when he was received by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) in the country's capital, Jeddah, on Friday.

Will Saudis in exile suffer the same fate as Jamal Khashoggi?

Former Saudi intelligence official has filed a lawsuit alleging Saudi crown prince sent a hit squad to kill him.

A man with close ties to the Saudi royal family falls out with Crown Prince Mohamed Mohammed bin Salman, goes into exile, and is targeted by a group of hitmen.

It sounds like what happened to journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was murdered at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018.

But this is the story of former top Saudi Intelligence official Saad al-Jabri.

He says that not long after Khashoggi's killing, Mohamed Mohammed bin Salman dispatched a group of hitmen, known as the Tiger Squad, to assassinate him.

Jamal Khashoggi: The Silencing of a Journalist

An investigation into journalist Jamal Khashoggi's death which implicates the highest levels of the Saudi government.

On October 2, 2018, Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist working in the US for the Washington Post, entered his country's consulate in Istanbul to process paperwork - and was never seen again.

On the same day, a 15-man Saudi hit squad had allegedly flown to Istanbul. All the evidence points to Khashoggi's murder, suggesting that his body was first dismembered and then disposed of.

The killing of the well-known journalist and critic of Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) has resonated around the world, both as an attack on media freedom and as a shocking insight into the workings of a secretive and repressive regime.

Order A Journalist Killed: Receive A Public Holiday And A Gold Platted Machine Gun

Even though irrefutable evidence exists showing  Mohammad bin Salman ordered the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi that hasn't stopped the government of Pakistan from declaring a public holiday, having him personally driven about in the Prime Minister's Official vehicle, but perhaps most appropriate was given a gold platted machine gun.  Nothing says free speech, free press and supporting human rights than a gift of a gold platted machine gun to the person who ordered Jamal Khashoggi's murder. But, hey. It's Pakistan the country that helped found and train the Taliban.  Along with providing support to know terrorist groups operating in India controlled Kashmir. Both these countries are considered important allies by the Trump administration. Why not?  Governments and their leaders who show and or support authoritarian rule are greatly admired by Donald Trump.

Mohammad bin Salman has been welcomed with a fighter jet escort, a gold-plated submachine gun and Pakistan’s highest civilian honour on the lavish first leg of an Asian tour aimed at rehabilitating the image of the Saudi Arabian crown prince five months after the killing of Jamal Khashoggi.

After being personally chauffeured from the airport by the country’s prime minister, Imran Khan, Prince Mohammed signed agreements worth $20bn on Monday, a crucial injection of funds for an ailing economy suffering a foreign-currency crunch and which is currently negotiating its 13th IMF bailout in 40 years.

The day was declared a public holiday in Pakistan, and pictures of the powerful royal dotted the capital Islamabad. In celebration, the Saudis announced the release of more than 2,000 Pakistani prisoners from their jails.

What can an investigation into Khashoggi's murder achieve?

A UN-led team is in Turkey to investigate journalist's murder and wants access to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

Jamal Khashoggi, a critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was murdered at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul almost four months ago.

But neither the journalist's body nor remains have been recovered, and the murder case remains unsolved.

Turkey is not satisfied by Saudi Arabia's investigation and wants a full international inquiry.

An independent investigation, led by the UN's special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, is under way.

Will there be justice for Jamal Khashoggi?

Questions surrounding the murder of the Saudi journalist remain unanswered.

On Thursday, friends, politicians and human-rights activists gathered to remember Jamal Khashoggi, 100 days after the Saudi journalist was killed.

A vigil was organised at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, where Khashoggi was murdered on October 2, and a memorial service was held in the US Congress in Washington, DC.

Some members of the Congress are pressuring President Donald Trump to re-evaluate relations with Saudi Arabia and its Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is widely suspected of ordering the killing

Saudi Arabia post-Khashoggi: Business as usual?

After Khashoggi's killing, Saudi Arabia tightens grip on media and public discourse. Plus, South Korea's 'Defector TV'.

Saudi Arabia post-Khashoggi

It's been almost six weeks since the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. Riyadh reaffirmed this past week that it was a rogue operation, but its story keeps changing. And news has surfaced of another Saudi journalist, Turki bin Abdulaziz al-Jasser, who was arrested eight months ago, and was allegedly tortured to death while in detention.

Al-Jasser ran what he thought was an anonymous account on Twitter, a platform that used to be a proxy public square for Saudis, but where an army of trolls has poisoned debate, harasses dissidents and spreads misinformation.

The mastermind of that campaign was Saud al-Qahtani, who worked behind the scenes as an enforcer for Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Will Saudi Arabia execute one of its top clerics?

We talk to the son of cleric Salman al-Awdah and debate the danger of social media with tech pioneer Jaron Lanier.

Saudi cleric's son: 'Everyone is threatened'

Soon after Mohammed bin Salman, also known as MBS, was appointed Saudi crown prince in 2017, prominent Muslim cleric Sheikh Salman al-Awdah was arrested, allegedly for his refusal to tweet in support of the Saudi-led blockade of Qatar.

In September 2018, prosecutors applied for him to be sentenced to death.

UpFront speaks with al-Awdah's son, Abdullah Alaoudh, who is based in the United States and is a Senior Fellow at Georgetown University. 

"The charges actually represent how the state would crack down on any different view and on any person who disagrees," says Alaoudh.

Who is behind Jamal Khashoggi's disappearance?

Turkish officials now say they have evidence Khashoggi was killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

The joint Saudi-Turkish team investigating the case of missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi has searched the consulate and attention is now turned to the consul's home.

The Turkish attorney general's office told Al Jazeera there is evidence Khashoggi was killed inside the consulate, something Saudi Arabia had consistently denied.

Media sources in the US suggest the kingdom is preparing to acknowledge he died during an interrogation that went wrong.

King Salman said he did not know anything about it in a phone call with President Donald Trump who then suggested "rogue killers" may be to blame.

Covering the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi

Conflicting narratives and the mystery of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi's disappearance. Plus, native advertising.

The disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi

The disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi Arabian journalist in exile who walked into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last week and never came out, is the subject of intense, international media speculation.

Turkish officials are theorising Khashoggi was killed in the consulate, and the Saudis insist that he came and left. And it has produced a level of news coverage seldom afforded Arab dissidents who just disappear.

That's because Khashoggi was not just a dissident, he was a former insider-turned-critic of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and he had a platform at his disposal - The Washington Post.

Jamal Khashoggi: The world demands answers.

We discuss reports of the Saudi journalist's death and ask a former EPA head about the IPCC climate change report.

In this week's UpFront, we discuss the disappearance and possible murderof Saudi journalist and critic, Jamal Khashoggi.

In this special discussion, we talk to  Sarah Leah Whitson of Human Rights Watch (HRW) and foreign policy analyst Rula Jebreal, who both know and have worked with Jamal Khashoggi, and ask what should happen next.

And in a special interview, we ask Gina McCarthy, former administrator of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), about the findings of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's dramatic report issued this week.

What happened to Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi?

The New York Times reports the dissident Saudi journalist was murdered inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

On the afternoon of Tuesday, October 2, Jamal Khashoggi walked into the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul.

His fiancee, who was waiting for him outside, says he never came out.

Now, we know more about what may have happened.

The New York Times reported that Khashoggi was murdered inside the Saudi consulate.

Turkish me

Is Khashoggi the latest victim of Saudi's crackdown on dissent?

The famed critic went missing shortly after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Tuesday.

Jamal Khashoggi entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul five days ago and reportedly never walked out.

Turkish authorities say they believe he was killed inside the building in what they say was premeditated.

Saudi Arabia denies it.