On 2 October 2018, Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi Arabia’s most prominent journalist and an outspoken critic of the country’s government, walked into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to collect documents he needed to get married. He never came out again.
Investigators later concluded that Jamal Khashoggi had been ambushed, forcibly restrained, drugged, and asphyxiated. His body was then dismembered by 15 Saudi assassins with links to the crown prince, Mohammed bin-Salman, or MBS, and stuffed into bags and discarded.
Six months after the murder, Iyad el-Baghdadi, a prominent writer and a friend of Jamal Khashoggi, was visited by the Norwegian Security services at his home in Oslo, where they informed him that there was a credible threat to his life. He describes what happened and how his life has changed since then.
Listen to other episodes of ‘Silenced’
In the fourth episode of ARTICLE 19’s podcast series ‘Silenced’, Nicola Kelly speaks to journalist Matthew Caruana Galizia about the day his mother Daphne was murdered, his fight for justice, and his determination to continue her work exposing corruption among some of Malta’s most powerful individuals.
In the third episode, Nicola Kelly interviews Maria Baronova, until recently Editor of ‘RT’ (formerly ‘Russia Today’) about her years as a well-known opposition activist and the threats, intimidation and attacks she faced.
She also interviewed Ukrainian journalist Olga Tokariuk, who describes the threats facing journalists covering the invasion; efforts to ensure a free media space and get impartial information out to the world;
For the launch of ‘Silenced’, Nicola Kelly spoke to Richard Ratcliffe, campaigner and husband of British-Iranian charity worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, in one of the last interviews before his wife’s release.
‘Silenced’ is hosted by human rights journalist Nicola Kelly and produced by Christopher Hooton at Ziggurat Studio. Music is by Julian Wharton and sound design by Rick Morris.