
By Talmiz Ahmad
Oct
12, 2018
Khashoggi
welcomed the Arab Spring in 2011 as a renaissance in the Arab political order.
Jamal
Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist in self-exile in Washington D.C. since June last
year, entered his country’s consulate in Istanbul on October 2 and has since
disappeared. The media in the United States and West Asia are awash with
speculation about his fate, with strong suggestions that he was murdered by a
15-person team from the Saudi security services that was sent to Istanbul in
two special aircraft for just this operation.
Khashoggi
is a fascinating personality — of Turkish origin and a nephew of Saudi
billionaire Adnan Khashoggi, he was tall, well-built, fair and soft-spoken,
with bright, twinkling eyes and a quiet smile. Early in his early career he was
a journalist in Afghanistan during the “global jihad” in the 1980s. He was a
close friend of then Saudi intelligence chief Prince Turki Al Faisal, and the
head of logistics in Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden, whom he interviewed in 1987
and last met in Sudan in 1995.
He
became editor of Al Watan in 2003, a “liberal” paper founded in 2000 by the Al
Faisal family. He lasted in this position for 52 days, when he was removed for
publishing an article criticising the 14th century cleric, Ibn Taymiyya, for
inspiring violence and extremism in the kingdom. He again became editor of Al
Watan in 2007 and resigned under official pressure three years later for
publishing an article criticising Salafism, the foundational doctrine of the
Saudi kingdom.
Khashoggi
welcomed the Arab Spring in 2011 as a renaissance in the Arab political order.
He was doomed to disappointment and later fiercely criticised the coup d’etat
that overthrew the Mohammed Morsi government and re-established authoritarian
rule in Egypt in 2013.
As
Prince Mohammed bin Salman became Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, after ousting
two senior royals, Khashoggi went into self-exile to the US in June 2017 where,
from the columns of the Washington Post, he criticised the rising tide of
repression in his home country.
Most
commentators see Khashoggi’s disappearance and possible murder as resulting
from his prominence in American media circles and as affirming the Crown
Prince’s intolerance of all criticism, which has now reached a “new level of
brazenness” in asserting that no dissident is beyond the reach of the Saudi
prince. Khashoggi’s editor in the Post has described his disappearance as “a
monstrous and unfathomable act”. US President Donald Trump has expressed
concern, while awaiting more information.
American
security analyst Bruce Riedel sees the attack on Khashoggi as part of “a
pattern of crude intimidation and the silencing of criticism and dissent” in
Saudi Arabia. A Qatari paper has described Saudi Arabia as the “kingdom of
fear”.
Khashoggi’s
disappearance has come after several harsh crackdowns by the Crown Prince over
the past year. These started with the arrests of about 70 intellectuals,
clerics and writers in September last year, followed by the public
incarceration of about 300 royal family members and business people in November
on grounds of “corruption”. Since then, there have been regular reports of the
kidnapping, detention and even killing of royal family members and arrests of
activists, even those associated with projects backed by the Crown Prince, such
as allowing women to drive. The Crown Prince has made it clear that he is the
sole harbinger of change in his country.
Khashoggi
has been an anguished observer of these developments. In September last year,
he spoke of the “climate of fear and intimidation” sweeping his country. As the
Crown Prince cracked down on clerics, Khashoggi reminded him that some of the
worst extremists were within the Saudi establishment, including those who
declared that Shias were not Muslims and opposed political reform. Later, as
the arrests of women activists took place in May this year, Khashoggi wrote:
“We are being asked to abandon any hope of political freedom.”
Deeply
troubled by the war in Yemen, he advised the Crown Prince to restore Saudi
dignity by initiating a ceasefire and engaging with the Houthis.
He
rejected the demonisation of the Muslim Brotherhood: he saw the Brotherhood as
an integral part of democracy in the Arab world. He was convinced that the Arab
rulers’ opposition to this movement was founded on their rejection of active
and popular politics and intolerance of those who demand freedom and
accountability.
Since
Khashoggi’s fate is still uncertain, it is not clear what impact his murder, if
it is proved, will have on Saudi ties with Turkey and the United States.
Turkey
and Saudi Arabia have differences on important issues — Turkey is affiliated
with the Muslim Brotherhood and is backing Qatar politically, militarily and
economically against the siege initiated by its GCC partners. Again, though
uneasy about Bashar Assad’s continuance in power in Damascus, Turkey is part of
the Astana peace process with Russia and Iran, and, with these partners, is
also opposed to the continued US military presence in Syria, which Saudi Arabia
supports.
In his
public remarks so far, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has expressed personal
anguish about Khashoggi’s fate. However, being under economic and political
pressure from the US, Turkey is not likely to cut ties with Saudi Arabia even
if it comes to light that a murder had taken place. Turkish commentators have
frequently referred to Khashoggi as a “Saudi citizen”.
Similarly,
the Trump administration, hardly a torchbearer for media freedom and human
rights, will continue to prioritise its political ties with the kingdom,
particularly its defence contracts.
The
heaviest price for this indifference will be paid by the Saudi people, who will
be intimidated into silence by the length their prince is willing to go to
silence dissent or even mild, well-informed and well-meant criticism of his
policies and conduct.
In
November 2014, Khashoggi had written: “Democracy, popular participation or
shura … will inevitably be realised. It’s a natural and inevitable development
of history”. Later, seeing the repression in his country, this anguished writer
had said: “We Saudis deserve better.”
Sadly,
little change is likely for the foreseeable future.
Talmiz Ahmad is a former Indian ambassador to
Saudi Arabia
Source:asianage.com/opinion/oped/121018/the-disappearance-of-khashoggi-for-saudis-little-real-change-likely.html
URL: http://newageislam.com/the-war-within-islam/talmiz-ahmad/saudi-arabia-the--kingdom-of-fear-/d/116608