Killing Jamal Khashoggi Was A Saudi Warning Shot

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Long before Jamal Khashoggi disappeared, Saudi Arabia had a history of cracking down on dissidents. Little tolerance exists inside the kingdom for activism and dissent. Even abroad, critics have not been safe: Saudi princes critical of the regime have gone missing while living in Europe.

But Khashoggi was not an ordinary dissident. He had started an advocacy group called Democracy for the Arab World Now, which aimed to bring together reformer intellectuals and political Islamists in pursuit of building democracy in the Arab world. Khashoggi also had links to Muslim Brotherhood, a transnational Islamist movement that has had tremendous influence in the region but one that Saudi Arabia regards as a regional threat and terrorist organization.

His political engagement had become especially alarming for Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, given Khashoggi’s once very close relations to the royal family and his in-depth knowledge of issues and networks within the kingdom. Khashoggi had become a “dissident” only recently, but he did so with a level of ambition that triggered Mohammed bin Salman insecurity. The crown prince, known as MBS, tried and failed to bring Khashoggi back to Saudi Arabia from the U.S. Khashoggi expressed his distrust of the Saudi authorities, and continued his activism.

So the crown prince, it seems, had him tortured and killed. The message was clear: Anyone who challenges the Saudi regime and tries to create alternatives to the current Saudi rule will be punished in the harshest way possible. It is a stark warning to dissident members of the Saudi diaspora and their supporters.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/opinion-saudi-crown-prince-salman-khashoggi-trump_us_5bc897f3e4b055bc947e2841

[Rustynaerduwell]

1. You torture for two reasons only

To get the answers you want and/or to set an example as a warning to others. That tape didn't leave that room as an oversight. It was let out on purpose.

[TomSlick]

2. Exactly!

The only reason to conduct such an open murder is as a warning to others. If the goal had been to simply silence Khashoggi, he would have been killed clandestinely.

[Grasswire2]

3. It also works to warn Trump critics in the media.

Considering that Khashoggi was critical of Trump and was then banned from his own country.

"A Saudi Arabian journalist and commentator has been banned by his country for criticising US President-elect Donald Trump. Jamal Khashoggi has been banned from writing in newspapers, making TV appearances and attending conferences, Middle East Eye reports. After Mr Khashoggi criticised Mr Trump's Middle East policies at a Washington think-tank on 10 November, an official Saudi spokesman said he did not represent the Kingdom in a statement to the Saudi Press Agency."

-- UK Independent, 05 December 2016

[raccoon]

4. From the article, this is especially good:

That the incident happened at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul shows that MBS was not afraid of any major repercussions when delivering his message. The Saudi ruling elite surely has the means to have a dissident killed in an “accident” that would be difficult to officially trace. The crown prince chose a different, more frightening route.