HomeUploadUpload DirectHotlinkRandomAbouttheme toggle

How the U.S. Covered Up the Murder of Journalist Jamal Khashoggi

Views: 939
Oscar-winning filmmaker Bryan Fogel fought Saudi censorship to make his new documentary, The Dissident.
------------------
Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/ReasonTV?sub...
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Reason.Magaz...
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/reason

Reason is the planet's leading source of news, politics, and culture from a libertarian perspective. Go to reason.com for a point of view you won't get from legacy media and old left-right opinion magazines.
----------------
In October 2018, the world learned of the brutal murder and dismemberment of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

Khashoggi had been a government insider in his home country of Saudi Arabia, but his relationship with the ruling family—and particularly Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman—soured as Khashoggi became an influential advocate for free speech and human rights within the kingdom. In September 2017, fearing retaliation, he fled to the United States.

In 2018, Khashoggi walked into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, to obtain marriage papers and was ambushed by a team of operatives allegedly deployed by Prince Mohammed. As Khashoggi's fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, waited outside for him to return, the Saudi team went to work.

"The global response, the U.S. response, the U.N. response, is basically 'bad boy, we're gonna let you get away with this one,'" says Bryan Fogel, the Oscar-winning filmmaker behind the 2017 Netflix documentary Icarus. 

His new film, The Dissident, out now on most major VOD platforms, contains shocking audiotapes, transcripts, and video surveillance footage of the operation that ended with Khashoggi being strangled to death and his body disposed of in several trash bags.

The documentary features damning revelations, such as the Saudi team's alleged efforts to cover up the murder after the fact by dressing a Khashoggi body double in the slain man's clothes and parading him in front of security cameras. But surveillance footage featured in The Dissident also shows the alleged body double removing his fake mustache and clothes shortly thereafter.

Using a spyware tool called Pegasus that had been loaded onto Khashoggi's phone in order to eavesdrop on his conversations with other activists, Saudi operatives allegedly discovered that he was communicating with a young dissident living in Canada named Omar Abdulaziz. According to the film, Prince Mohammed also went after Abdulaziz, attempting to lure him back to Saudi Arabia with promises of fame and fortune, and sending a rendition team after him.

Fogel says he's most passionate about seeking justice and accountability for whistleblowers, dissidents, and other victims of totalitarian governments. The film for which he won an Oscar in 2017, Icarus, provided crucial evidence on the Russian Olympics doping scandal based on revelations from the former head of Moscow's internationally certified drug-testing laboratory, Grigory Rodchenkov, who worked with Kremlin officials to implement the scheme.

The Dissident exposes widespread efforts by the Trump administration and political leaders around the world to cover up or gloss over the Saudis' alleged involvement in Khashoggi's killing. Though Fogel was fresh off an Oscar win for Icarus, he says it proved difficult to find partners willing to make his new documentary, and it was only made possible through the backing of the Human Rights Foundation. 

Though the documentary premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival to rave reviews, it was rejected by all major distributors before being picked up by Briarcliff Entertainment. Fogel says his experience making and distributing the film has convinced him that the fight for press freedoms around the globe must be led by a grassroots movement because it won't come from governments or corporations.

"I'm not mad at them," Fogel says of the distributors who declined to take on the film. "I understand the predicament. I just wish that we, as a society, were valuing human rights and valuing stories like this." 

Produced, written, and edited by Justin Monticello. Audio production by Ian Keyser.

Music: Which Way Is Up? by Silent Partner and The Path Starts Here by Cooper Cannell.

Photos: POOL New/REUTERS/Newscom; Abaca Press/Balkis Press/Abaca/Sipa USA/Newscom; Balkis Press/ABACA/Newscom; Ron Przysucha/ZUMA Press/Newscom; Anita Bugge/Geisler-Fotopress; AHMET SEL/SIPA/Newscom; Everett Collection/Newscom; Balkis Press / Sipa USA/Newscom; White House via CNP/Sipa USA/Newscom; Ron Sachs/dpa/picture-alliance/Newscom; Owen D.B. / BlackStar Photos/Newscom; Hubert Boesl/picture alliance / dpa/Newscom; Mikhail Japaridze/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom; SHEALAH CRAIGHEAD/UPI/Newscom; Louise MERESSE/SIPA/Newscom
@ReasonVidsfollow
Thumbnail for Should the Federal Government Assume a Larger Role in Managing the Economy? A Soho Forum Debate1:38:12
Should the Federal Government Assume a Larger Role in Managing the Economy? A Soho Forum Debate
ReasonVids
702 views
Thumbnail for Living Large, by Drew Carey and Reason.tv7:30
Living Large, by Drew Carey and Reason.tv
ReasonVids
819 views
Thumbnail for The Walking Dead vs. the Feds! Paul Cantor on TV's Zombie Apocalypse7:59
The Walking Dead vs. the Feds! Paul Cantor on TV's Zombie Apocalypse
ReasonVids
971 views
Thumbnail for Remy: Closer (Trump Inauguration Chainsmokers Parody)2:20
Remy: Closer (Trump Inauguration Chainsmokers Parody)
ReasonVids
917 views
Thumbnail for The CPAC Foreign Policy Split: Old Hawks and Young Doves3:34
The CPAC Foreign Policy Split: Old Hawks and Young Doves
ReasonVids
861 views
Thumbnail for Is There a Silver Lining to the Supreme Court's Obamacare Decision?7:55
Is There a Silver Lining to the Supreme Court's Obamacare Decision?
ReasonVids
831 views
Thumbnail for MTV VJ and Radio Host Kennedy on Marijuana, The Politics of Alt Rock, and Becoming Libertarian9:50
MTV VJ and Radio Host Kennedy on Marijuana, The Politics of Alt Rock, and Becoming Libertarian
ReasonVids
979 views
Thumbnail for Stossel: The Rise Of Citizen Journalists4:34
Stossel: The Rise Of Citizen Journalists
ReasonVids
795 views
Thumbnail for False Flag squirrel 0:30
False Flag squirrel
AOUisgay
483 views
Thumbnail for Economist Murat Yülek on Greek Debt, Turkish Growth, & U.S. Budget Woes5:09
Economist Murat Yülek on Greek Debt, Turkish Growth, & U.S. Budget Woes
ReasonVids
835 views
Thumbnail for 3 Reasons Obama Should Kick His Own Ass2:29
3 Reasons Obama Should Kick His Own Ass
ReasonVids
898 views
Thumbnail for Mayor Francis Suarez Wants To Turn Miami Into an Un-Woke, Pro-Bitcoin, Tech Billionaire’s Paradise13:33
Mayor Francis Suarez Wants To Turn Miami Into an Un-Woke, Pro-Bitcoin, Tech Billionaire’s Paradise
ReasonVids
892 views
Thumbnail for Here’s the video of every celebrity without a mask during the Super Bowl. But every kid in California will have to be wearing them tomorrow in school. They must all be holding their breaths the entire game.0:28
Here’s the video of every celebrity without a mask during the Super Bowl. But every kid in California will have to be wearing them tomorrow in school. They must all be holding their breaths the entire game.
bestofpoal
972 views
Thumbnail for Declan Rice pays HOW MUCH for a trim? 😂 | CBS Sports Golazo0:12
Declan Rice pays HOW MUCH for a trim? 😂 | CBS Sports Golazo
invidious
305 views
Thumbnail for Lab-Grown Meat Is Coming to Your Supermarket. Ranchers Are Fighting Back.5:54
Lab-Grown Meat Is Coming to Your Supermarket. Ranchers Are Fighting Back.
ReasonVids
923 views
Thumbnail for 130 pound guy vs 570 pound guy0:14
130 pound guy vs 570 pound guy
bestofhtlunited
3169 views
Thumbnail for The Top Five Environmental Disasters that Didn't Happen6:57
The Top Five Environmental Disasters that Didn't Happen
ReasonVids
873 views
Thumbnail for Keith Olbermann - A Memorial Tribute0:51
Keith Olbermann - A Memorial Tribute
ReasonVids
776 views
Thumbnail for Top 5 Pointless Congressional Hearings on Baseball5:23
Top 5 Pointless Congressional Hearings on Baseball
ReasonVids
901 views
Thumbnail for Patriot Front activism (2021-03)7:30
Patriot Front activism (2021-03)
PatriotFrontArchive
901 views
Thumbnail for Who's the cleverest good boy?0:13
Who's the cleverest good boy?
bestofupgoat
424 views
Thumbnail for China Censors the Oscars To Block a Hong Kong Protest Film5:03
China Censors the Oscars To Block a Hong Kong Protest Film
ReasonVids
904 views
Thumbnail for Stop and Frisk on Trial in NYC: Race, Crime and Constitutional Policing9:54
Stop and Frisk on Trial in NYC: Race, Crime and Constitutional Policing
ReasonVids
1076 views

points

Permalink
Reply
libertarian, reason magazine, reason.com, reason.tv, reasontv, bryan fogel, justin monticello, the dissident, jamal khashoggi, saudi arabia, mohammed bin salman, whistleblowers, free press, journalism, civil liberties, middle east, donald trump
TOS  •  Add Keywords  •  Donate  •   Analytics  •   DMCA  •   Puzzle