Inside Story

Can Saudi Arabia get away with murder?

Riyadh continues to deny Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered or knew of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s killing.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is promising to reveal the “naked truth” about the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul.

That will be the first official release of details.

Unofficially, Turkish sources have repeatedly leaked gruesome accounts of how Khashoggi was killed and dismembered three weeks ago.

The journalist was missing for two weeks before Saudi leaders eventually admitted his killing, they say by mistake.

Their story has changed since then. What’s being described as a “rogue operation” is the latest explanation.

What is not changing is the kingdom’s insistence that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman did not order the operation to kill.

As the international outcry builds, critics are sceptical that the heir apparent did not know anything about it.

Will pressure on the Saudis work?

 

Presenter: Peter Dobbie

Guests:

Ali al-Ahmed – director of the Gulf Affairs Institute and former Saudi political prisoner

Matthew Brodsky – senior fellow with the Security Studies Group in Washington, DC

Mustafa Akyol – senior fellow with CATO Institute’s Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity