Saudi Arabia: Conspiracy, Corruption & Cover Up of Jamal Khashoggi

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Saudi Arabia: Conspiracy, Corruption & Cover-up of Jamal Khashoggi
I. Background
This term project will focus on the nation of Saudi Arabia. The major aim will be uncovering the conspiracy, corruption & cover-up of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Khashoggi was born on Oct. 13, 1958, in Saudi Arabia. After his primary and secondary education in Saudi Arabia, Khashoggi proceeded to Indiana State University in the U.S. where he took business administration. He then went back to his home country. Khashoggi worked as a correspondent, editor, and senior manager in magazines and news channels. He worked in various countries including Algeria, Afghanistan, Sudan, and Kuwait. At some point, Khashoggi was a consultant to Prince Turki Al-Faisal during his diplomatic missions in both the U.S. and Britain. In 2017, Mohammed bin Salman became the Saudi Arabia crown, which increased political pressure in the country, forcing Khashoggi to leave the country and move to the U.S.
On September 28, 2018, Khashoggi visited the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to get documents so that he could marry his Turkish fiancée Hatice Cengiz (McKernan). However, he was informed he needed to return to get the document and arranged to come back on October 2, 2018. On this day, Khashoggi was accompanied by his fiancée Cengiz. Despite reassuring his friends that nothing would happen, he left two mobile phones with Cengiz and told her to get in touch with an adviser to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan if he did not come back. Cengiz ended up waiting for more than 10 hours outside the consulate. She returned the following day only to find that Khashoggi has not yet reappeared. Unknown to Cengiz, Khashoggi had already been murdered in cold blood. It is reported that this happened in the consul-general library. Here, the body of the journalist was dismembered by palace officers in fifteen parts and filled into five suitcases. This is one of the world's most notorious conspiracies and cover-up in modern history. The brutal murder was orchestrated by Mohammad Bin Salman the leader of Saudi Arabia. Surprisingly, Saudi Arabia tried to cover up the killing but was caught in a web of lies and deception.
II. Analysis
The murder of Khashoggi was motivated by stand on the need for democracy and the freedom of media in Saudi Arabia. Initially, Khashoggi had close relations with the Saudi royal family. This earned him various prominent positions in the kingdom. However, his critical approach would cause him trouble with the same family. His stance on political reform and the need for democratization in the nation was not received well (TRT World Research Centre 13). When he left Saudi Arabia, Khashoggi used his platform, particularly in the Washington Post to demonstrate the dangers of media censorship in the country. He called out Salman for the failure to fulfill his promises on upholding media freedom. In his final article on the Washington Post, Khashoggi indicated that Arab governments were continuing to undermine the media. He was especially bold on the issue of Arab governments controlling the information on the Internet through censorship. The blocking of the Internet and the arrest of reporters contin...