It happens occasionally: When you are getting ready for writing on a particular topic, you encounter some other aspects of that topic that you didn’t know at all.
During my preparation for writing about the brutal killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi by government agents of his own country in Istanbul with the occasion of the first anniversary of the killing, I’ve come across another Arab journalist named Hassan Hassan.
Let me first share the latest piece of information about the murder of Khashoggi: The Saudi Arabian daily Okaz reports that trial of the individuals from the assassination team, caught nearly red-handed, keeps going with eight completed hearings. The daily informs its readers that representatives of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council as well as one representative of Turkey have been present in all of the hearings, besides family members of the decedent.
The representative of Turkey must be sending his notes to the Turkish capital, Ankara. So, we can expect that Ankara would soon inform us about course of events concerning the trial, even if Saudi authorities chose not to reveal any substantial information.
The region seems gripped by fear
Media have kept the topic of the killing alive all over the world through comprehensive writings and TV programs on the first anniversary of the murder. An American television channel (PBS) assigned one reporter exclusively to this matter. We learn that the reporter carried out interviews before cameras with almost anyone closely related to the topic, and traveled to Riyadh scores of times to question a good number of officials, including Mohammad bin Salman (MbS), the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia.