FACTBOX - Assassinated Saudi Journalist Jamal Khashoggi

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th October, 2018) Following more than two weeks of denials, Saudi Arabia has admitted that opposition journalist Jamal Ahmad Hamza Khashoggi had been killed in a brawl inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

Khashoggi's murder has caused an international outcry and many countries around the globe have demanded a detailed explanation from the Saudi authorities regarding the circumstances of his killing.

Khashoggi, 59 years old at the time of his death, was born in Medina.

He has been working as a journalist for over 30 years and interviewed several influential figures, including leader of the Al-Qaeda terrorist group (banned in Russia) Osama bin Laden several times during his career, but his most notable work was as as media aide to Saudi Prince Turki al-Faisal bin Abdulaziz.

Khashoggi graduated from the Indiana State University in 1982 and soon began working as a correspondent in the Saudi Gazette, and then in Arabic newspapers Asharq Al-Awsat, Al Majalla and others.

The meetings of Khashoggi with bin Laden aroused controversies, especially after the 9/11 events. Some said he was the first to take a photo of Al-Qaeda leader. In one of the interviews he gave about this, in 2008, he confirmed he was a friend of Osama bin Laden.

Photos of bin Laden and his group taken by Khashoggi caused great controversy in the West. After he posted on Instagram a photo with bin Laden at his hideout in Afghanistan, some social media users reacted with a photo of the Arab news newspaper, in which he worked in the late 80s, where he stood with a rocket anti-tank launcher in his hands accompanied by militants.

Jamal Khashoggi originates from a rich family. His grandfather Muhammad Khaled Khashoggi was the personal physician of the founder of the Saudi kingdom, King Abdulaziz Al Saud. The journalist's aunt, writer Samira Khashoggi, was the first wife of a billionaire businessman Mohamed Al-Fayed. Their son Dodi was in a relationship with Princess Diana after her divorce from Prince Charles.

His uncle was Saudi billionaire Adnan Khashoggi, who was famous for the arms trade and his rare collections. He was one of the world's richest men when his net worth peaked at $4 billion in the early 1980s, and died last year at the age of 81. Adnan Khashoggi owned the world's largest yacht which appeared in one of the movies about James bond and was later sold to sold to the Sultan of Brunei and then to Donald Trump, many years before the latter became the US President. In the early 90s, it was sold to Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal and remains with him to this day.

Despite having such relatives, Jamal Khashoggi caused no less controversy on his own. Each time, after orders to appoint him head of some newspaper or channel, he was subsequently fired.

In 2004, he worked as a media aide to Saudi Ambassador in London Turki al-Faisal, then he moved with him to Washington. Al-Faisal was the director of Saudi intelligence for more than 20 years from 1977 until the beginning of the current century. Khashoggi interviewed him for Saudi satellite broadcaster, causing some controversies, primarily in the kingdom's relations with Iran.

In 2010, Khashoggi left the post of editor-in-chief of the Saudi newspaper Al-Watan after just three years on this position. Some reports said that he was forced to leave after permission to publish an op-ed by poet Ibrahim al-Almaee criticizing Salafism and calling for reforms, and after several articles about the Saudi government's religious watchdog.

Khashoggi also had a brief 52-day stint as Al-Watan editor-in-chief in 2004, until his resignation for unnamed reasons. According to Al-Hayat newspaper, local sources said at the time that he was dismissed for publishing an article criticizing one of the major Islamic scholars.

In 2015, it was announced that Khashoggi was appointed CEO of Al-Arab News Channel, but the broadcaster was shut down almost immediately after its launch.

Khashoggi chose Washington as the place of his "self-exile" in 2017, although he refused to call it so, and he seemed very constrained to be outside his own country, although he criticized its leadership in his articles in the Washington Post newspaper.

In late 2017, the London-based newspaper Al-Hayat, owned by Saudi Prince Khalid bin Sultan, ended relations with Khashoggi, who wrote regularly for the publication. It has previously suspended cooperation with him, citing Khashoggi's desire to question the reforms in the kingdom and oppose them as the reason.

Jamal Khashoggi criticized the policies pursued by Saudi crown prince Mohammad bin Salman. In his article "Saudi Arabia wasn't always this repressive. Now it's unbearable" dated September 18, 2017, he wrote: "When I speak of the fear, intimidation, arrests and public shaming of intellectuals and religious leaders who dare to speak their minds, and then I tell you that I'm from Saudi Arabia, are you surprised? ... I want you to know that Saudi Arabia has not always been as it is now. We Saudis deserve better."

Khashoggi was killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul where he went to get papers he needed to marry his Turkish fiancee Hatice Cengiz.

According to Riyadh, 18 people have been arrested over their involvement in the incident. Turkey is conducting a separate investigation into the journalist's death.

Khashoggi was married and divorced three times, with two sons and two daughters from his first marriage. The eldest of them is Salah bin Jamal Khashoggi, who works as a journalist in the Saudi newspaper Aliqtisadi and received condolences from King Salman and Prince Mohammed last Tuesday.