Khashoggi: From Saudi royal insider to open critic

A complex man of contradictions, journalist Jamal Khashoggi went from being a Saudi royal family insider to an outspoken critic of the ultra-conservative kingdom's government, and was ultimately killed inside its consulate in Istanbul.

In his final column for The Washington Post, Khashoggi perhaps presciently pleaded for greater freedom of expression in the Middle East.

"The Arab world is facing its own version of an Iron Curtain, imposed not by external actors but through domestic forces vying for power," he wrote.

"The Arab world needs a modern version of the old transnational media so citizens can be informed about global events. More important, we need to provide a platform for Arab voices," Khashoggi wrote.

Now his voice has been permanently silenced.

The Saudi journalist -- who disappeared after entering his country's consulate in Istanbul on October 2 to obtain marriage papers -- went into self-imposed exile in the United States in 2017 after falling out with Saudi's powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

His disappearance has been shrouded in mystery, and triggered an international crisis for both Riyadh and Washington as Turkish officials accused Saudi Arabia of a state-sponsored killing.

Riyadh, after insisting that Khashoggi left its consulate alive, finally said over two weeks after his disappearance that he died in a fight that arose from a dispute with people he met there.

- Bin Laden to Muslim brotherhood -
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- 'Too progressive' -
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- 'Fear, intimidation' -
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In an article published in the Post last year, Khashoggi, whose 60th birthday was on October 13, said that under Prince Mohammed -- the kingdom's de facto ruler -- Saudi Arabia was entering a new era of "fear, intimidation, arrests and public shaming."
And he said Saudi authorities had barred him from using his verified Twitter account after he said the country should be "rightfully nervous about a Trump presidency."