Authoritarian states have long tried to suppress dissidents who oppose the regime. But in the age of globalisation, they are increasingly able to mobilise beyond their territorial borders and target political opponents overseas.
The brutal murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a former Saudi regime insider who became a critic in self exile of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, is an extreme example of this new reality.
Although the precise details of Khashoggi’s murder have yet to be proved, his grim fate – he was allegedly strangled and dismembered by
