I didn’t know Jamal Khashoggi. I never met him. But he was a journalist, one of the brothers and sisters of
the media who have chosen to speak out for others. Which is why journalists have increasingly become targets.
Jamal Khashoggi didn’t describe himself as a dissident; he
just wanted more freedom and fairness for his people in Saudi Arabia.
In an article published in the Washington Post last year, he
wrote:
"I have left my home, my family and my job,
and I am raising my voice. To do otherwise would betray those who languish in
prison. I can speak when so many cannot. I want you to know that Saudi Arabia
has not always been as it is now. We Saudis deserve better."
Free media is a cornerstone of democracy. It is the voice which
demands accountability. And as the Saudis are finding to their cost, those who
would forcibly silence that voice can end up unleashing a global outrage more
powerful than they ever bargained for.
It is why, when Aljazeera journalists were wrongly
imprisoned in Egypt in 2013, the rest of the world’s media banded together to
demand their release.
It is why, when Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya was
gunned down in Moscow in 2006, the international outcry forced the case all the
way to the European Court of Human Rights.
It is why, after repeatedly targeting journalists and
members of the press as well as other unarmed people during protests in Gaza, Israel is facing an independent UN Commission
of Inquiry.
The campaign group Reporters Without Borders says since January 2018, 60
journalists have been killed. In 2017, it was 65. You can see more figures on their website here.
We may never know exactly what happened to Jamal Khashoggi
inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2nd. We may never see those
who gave the order for his murder pay the price. And ultimately, nothing may change in Saudi Arabia because of his death. But one thing is clear.
In the fight to highlight injustice, in the battle to hold
those in charge to account, Jamal Khashoggi is just the latest fallen soldier.
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