Jamal Khashoggi
Who was Jamal Khashoggi?
Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist who was murdered at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018.
Biographical data adapted from Wikipedia’s article on Jamal Khashoggi (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Biography
Jamal Ahmad Hamza Khashoggi was born on 13 October 1958 in Medina, Saudi Arabia. He studied in the United States at Victoria College, Indiana State University, and Indiana University, where he built the knowledge base for his future career as one of the Arab world's leading journalists. Over the years, he worked as a reporter, editor, and columnist, becoming very familiar with the Saudi state's workings and its ties to the wider Muslim world.
Khashoggi made his name through his journalism across the Middle East, covering major events like the Soviet-Afghan War and the rise of al-Qaeda. He was an adviser to top Saudi officials and the editor-in-chief of the Saudi newspaper Al Watan, which gave space to progressive voices in the kingdom. Despite his connections, Khashoggi wasn't just an echo of official policies and often tested the boundaries of free speech in Saudi Arabia.
In September 2017, facing growing pressure from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's government, Khashoggi left Saudi Arabia and went into self-imposed exile in the United States. There, he began writing regular columns for The Washington Post, criticizing the Saudi government's actions against dissent, its military actions in Yemen, and the Crown Prince's power grabs. Although banned from using social media and other platforms within Saudi Arabia, his columns in The Washington Post reached a global audience.
On 2 October 2018, Khashoggi entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, to get documents for his upcoming marriage to Hatice Cengiz, a Turkish national, who waited outside. He never came out. Investigations by Turkish and international groups showed that a team of Saudi operatives killed and dismembered him inside the consulate. The Saudi government initially denied his death, then changed their story several times before the attorney general finally admitted the murder was planned. By November 2018, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency concluded that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had personally ordered the killing.
Khashoggi's murder caused international outrage and led to diplomatic tensions between Saudi Arabia and several Western governments, though significant consequences for the Saudi leadership were limited. In December 2018, Time magazine named him Person of the Year posthumously, along with other journalists who faced persecution. He had been married twice, first to Rawia Khashoggi, and was engaged to Hatice Cengiz at the time of his death. He was 59 years old.
Before Fame
Jamal Khashoggi grew up in Saudi Arabia when the country was rapidly changing, using its oil wealth to modernize while keeping tight political and social controls. He went to university in the United States in the late 1970s and early 1980s, a time influenced by the Cold War, the Iranian Revolution, and rising political Islam in the Muslim world. These experiences gave him a bicultural view that shaped his journalism throughout his life.
After returning to Saudi Arabia, Khashoggi started his career as a reporter and gradually moved up in Arab media. He covered the Soviet-Afghan War in the 1980s and during that time, met and interviewed Osama bin Laden several times, providing some of the first Western-accessible stories about the man who would later become the world's most wanted terrorist. This access to key events and figures of the time made Khashoggi a respected journalist with significant connections, eventually leading to leadership roles at Al Watan and advisory positions within the Saudi government.
Key Achievements
- Served as editor-in-chief of the Saudi newspaper Al Watan, transforming it into a platform for progressive and reformist opinion within Saudi Arabia
- Named Time magazine Person of the Year in 2018, posthumously, for his journalism and defense of press freedom
- Wrote a widely read column for The Washington Post that brought sustained international attention to human rights conditions and political repression in Saudi Arabia
- Conducted some of the earliest documented interviews with Osama bin Laden during the Soviet-Afghan War
- His assassination and the international response to it significantly elevated global awareness of the dangers faced by journalists covering authoritarian governments
Did You Know?
- 01.Khashoggi interviewed Osama bin Laden multiple times during the Soviet-Afghan War in the 1980s, making him one of the few journalists to have documented bin Laden before he became internationally notorious.
- 02.His fiancée, Hatice Cengiz, was waiting outside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on the day he was killed and raised the alarm when he did not emerge.
- 03.The CIA concluded that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman personally ordered the assassination, a finding that created a significant rift between U.S. intelligence agencies and the Trump administration's stance on Saudi Arabia.
- 04.Time magazine named him Person of the Year posthumously in December 2018, describing him as a 'Guardian of the Truth' alongside other journalists who had faced political persecution.
- 05.Khashoggi had served as a media adviser to Prince Turki al-Faisal when the latter was Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United Kingdom and the United States, illustrating the complex relationship he maintained with the Saudi establishment before breaking with its leadership.
Family & Personal Life
Awards & Honors
| Award | Year | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Time Person of the Year | 2018 | — |