Khashoggi was killed by Saudi agents inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey in 2018
We kick off our Guardian tour with an article written by Hanan Khashoggi, the widow of the late Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, titled “Turkey must give me the evidence it has on my husband’s murder.”
The article comes on the occasion of the fourth anniversary of the assassination of Khashoggi, at the consulate of his country, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in the Turkish city of Istanbul.
She wrote that on this day four years ago, the world lost a brilliant thought leader, journalist, husband, father and grandfather, Jamal Khashoggi.
“As his widow, my loss was compounded by the cover-up of exactly what happened in the days and weeks leading up to his premeditated murder.”
According to the author, key elements of the evidence that answer the vexing questions in the case of Jamal’s murder are on his personal devices, which are two mobile phones, a laptop and a tablet.
Khashoggi’s widow believes that these devices will reveal previously undisclosed details regarding his murder, which are necessary to know the full truth and advance the cause of justice. But these devices are in the possession of the Turkish government.
Through the important work of human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, the author learned that her personal devices had been targeted by the “Pegasus” spyware of the Israeli programming group NSO, and this “turns on voice and camera monitoring, without the victim’s knowledge on the launch”.
Further examination of Khashoggi’s wife’s devices showed her being tracked by the Pegasus spyware, as well as another spyware, Cellebrite, that was implanted on her devices and downloaded all of her communications with her late husband, she says.
“This all happened in 2018, before Jamal was murdered, while I was undergoing regarding 72 hours of horrific interrogation by Emirati intelligence authorities.”
The writer recounts that she and her husband discussed in communications through these devices their plans for the future, including travel and others.
“Is this how they knew all of Jamal’s moves and travel plans? I suspect Jamal’s phones were equally hacked by NSO’s Pegasus spyware at the direction of the Saudi government.”
The writer adds that in 2019, Agnes Callamard, the former United Nations special rapporteur who investigated the murder of Khashoggi, requested his devices from the Turkish authorities, who told her that they were holding Jamal’s phones and devices as part of their investigations, and that the examination of those devices was already continuing.
“I had hoped that during the upcoming trial in Turkey, the prosecutor would reveal the main evidence they collected from Jamal’s devices. But that never happened, as the trial in Turkey was stopped and transferred to Saudi Arabia without any answers.”
The writer explained that she had recently submitted a request through her lawyer to the Turkish ambassador to the United States to obtain these devices, as she personally requested from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, but to no avail. that.
“I have asked her to formally request Turkey to return this key evidence, in light of imminent legal action in the United States.”
Since Turkey has made it clear that it does not intend to proceed with the investigation into Jamal’s murder or the trial proceedings, it should hand over any evidence still in its possession to his wife.
“As Jamal’s only wife upon his death, I want all parties to be held accountable for my husband’s murder, including the governments of Saudi Arabia and the UAE and the NSO Group.”
“It is critical to the cause of justice to know whether Jamal’s devices have been infected with NSO spyware. Turkey should turn over these devices now,” she concluded.
‘Dreadful consequences’
photo released, Getty Images
The writer considered that Chinese President Xi Jinping is a rational leader, not arrogant or despairing
We turn to the Financial Times and an article entitled “West Must Remind Xi of Economic Consequences of Threatening Taiwan” by Charles Barton, a former British diplomat specializing in China.
The writer finds that the most common question among companies regarding China is whether Beijing will conquer Taiwan. That is still highly unlikely. But if it did, it would be a global economic and political catastrophe.
The writer reviews many good military reasons for the Chinese army’s failure to take this step, and believes that “the Chinese president is rational, not arrogant, nor desperate like Vladimir Putin,” and that the risk of invading Taiwan would expose his “Chinese dream” as well as his ambition to replace the United States as a global power prominent risk.
But military deterrence is the smaller part of the story. There are good economic reasons why the Chinese Communist Party did not invade.
The writer says that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company produces the majority of advanced semiconductors in the world, and its CEO has declared that he will not allow it to fall into the hands of the Chinese.
This can be achieved by targeting it with a precision-guided American missile, and it can even be possible through an easier way, which is to ban the sale of materials, machinery and spare parts necessary for its continuation of work, at a time when it seems that China’s dependence on foreign semiconductors will continue for a decade, and perhaps longer.
Another reason is that most of Taiwan’s exports to China, worth regarding $200 billion, are components of China’s own exports, so their disappearance will reduce Beijing’s exports by trillions of dollars, other countries’ trade and investment will dry up, shipping and insurance costs will rise. Significantly.
The writer called on the governments of free and democratic countries to make it clear to the Chinese Communist Party that an invasion or an extended blockade of Taiwan would lead to sanctions.
“Governments should pass this message on to the CPC quietly and now.”
The writer asserts that the sanctions will take place under the pressure of the uproar from ordinary people, the press, parliamentarians, and civil society in Western countries, expecting the United States to lead the move and its allies to follow.
“This is insane mutually assured destruction, the basis of Cold War deterrence. The global economy will collapse. The consequences for everyone will be horrific, but especially for China and the Chinese Communist Party.”
Because the party leads everything in China, as President Xi Jinping says, and takes credit for all good things, it cannot avoid blame when things go wrong.
The writer predicts that with the imposition of sanctions, supply chains will dry up, unemployment, which already stands at regarding 20 percent among Chinese youth, will rise, and in the absence of a meaningful social security system, the poverty and resulting despair will lead to protests and riots, which will be directed at the Chinese Communist Party. .
“Economic collapse will bring suffering on an unprecedented scale. The possibility is that protests will gather and cross county, city and even provincial boundaries. This would expose the party to challenges of a different kind.”
At the end of his article, the writer recalled the Tiananmen Square protests, which took place in Beijing in 1989, led by students and suppressed by the Chinese government at the time, which resulted in the deaths of hundreds of people.
“Shi knows all this, but it’s okay to remind him,” he concluded.