The royal family of Saudi Arabia has been accused of assassinating an anti-government journalist named Jamal Khashoggi, so the international society has been putting great pressure on Saudi.
Jamal Khashoggi’s Disappearance in Turkey
Jamal Khashoggi was a 59-year-old Saudi Arabian man who worked as a journalist for the Washington Post (WP). He often criticized the royal family, mainly targeting Saudi Crown Prince named Muhammad bin Salman, which often put him in life-threatening situations by the Saudi government.
On October 2nd, Khashoggi suddenly disappeared and was presumed to have been killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. He went there to prepare documents for marriage with his Turkish girlfriend. According to the first investigation conducted by the Turkish police, it was certain that he had been murdered inside the consulate on that day. The murder was planned in advance, and his body was moved from there to another place. One of the investigators even said that the Turkish government already obtained audio and visual evidence showing that the crime was committed by the royal family. The Saudi consulate has strongly insisted its innocence but has not given any evidence to prove Khashoggi’s whereabouts.
Following Crises in Saudi Arabia
The United States (US) reacted coldly toward the response of Saudi Arabia. On October 13th, US President Donald Trump implied that restrictions such as banning arms sales could possiblly be posed on Saudi Arabia if it does not reveal the truth. Foreign secretaries of Germany, the United Kingdom (UK), and France also called for an urgent investigation of the Khashoggi case. Nevertheless, the Saudi Arabian government declared that they would retaliate if given any kinds of restrictions.
As the unstable political situation continues, the Future Investment Initiative (FII) has encountered a crisis. FII is an influential investment conference held in Saudi Arabia, where a large amount of information on investment is shared every year. This year, however, many who were invited started to boycott the conference. Therefore, a lot of financiers and journalists from international groups, including the World Bank and Cable News Network (CNN), decided not to attend the conference.