Missing Saudi Jornalist Khashoggi's Final Column Released
After the disappearance of the Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, his last column was published, urging Arab media to unite to let the voices of Middle East writers and reporters to be heard.
In a column published by The Washington Post on Wednesday night, Khashoggi, who has not been seen since entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on October 2, wrote his final piece on the freedom of the Arab world, The Daily Telegraph reported.
He suggested the formation of a transnational media outlet — like Radio Free Europe, created by the United States during the Cold War — that could be a platform for Arab writers, reporters and thinkers to be heard, while remarking that a Freedom House report on political rights and civil liberties around the world had ranked most countries in the Arab world as “not free,” causing him grave concern.
“Through the creation of an independent international forum […]ordinary people in the Arab world would be able to address the structural problems their societies face,” he wrote adding that the world needs the platform for Arab voices.
Karen Attiah, the global opinions editor at The Washington Post, who published a note to Khashoggi’s last article, said she received this piece from the translator a day after the columnist disappeared.
“The Post held off publishing it because we hoped Jamal would come back to us so that he and I could edit it together,” she wrote. “Now I have to accept: That is not going to happen. This is the last piece of his I will edit for The Post.”
Khashoggi, has been missing for two weeks now after allegedly visiting the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul to acquire documentation for his upcoming marriage. The Washington Post reported that Turkey had informed US officials about audio and video recordings suggesting that the journalist had been murdered in the Saudi Consulate. Riyadh has denied any involvement in Khashoggi's disappearance.
- Source : Sputnik News
