Friday (March 13th): Do you remember the Khashoggi murder? Neither do we.

Name? Ahmad al-Asiri

Westphalian identity? Saudi

Age? 68

Why is he in the news? He is one of 20 Saudi nationals that are on an absentia trial starting in Istanbul today for the “premeditated murder with monstrous intent” of Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. 

Why do we care? When this happened in 2018, the entire world was shocked for some reason. To be honest, we do not really understand why…For weeks, Western media outlets speculated about MBS involvement in Kashoggi’s murder yet his proven and obvious involvement in Yemen does not seem to bother anyone. So one killed journalist outweighs millions of starving Yemenis? 

Why should you care? Honestly? This will not impact your life at all. This is an absentia trial and not even a UN investigation. Saudi Arabia has already refused to give up their nationals and trialled (in this case killed) 5 unknown Saudi nationals over this already. All this does to your life is increased media coverage for the next 24 hours.

Who else cares? Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. al-Asiri is part of MBS’ inner circle and by showcasing this to the world, Erdoğan wants to isolate his regional competitor and really put the blame on MBS. The CIA has already affirmed that the killing happened on MBS behalf. All that happened, as a result, was a couple of political individuals dropped out from the “Davos in the Dessert” Forum in Saudi Arabia. 

Any further comments? Khashoggi’s family has “forgiven” the murders of their loved one but still hope for more evidence to come out in this trial. But does the world even care? The only news about Saudi Arabia in the past few days have been Covid-19 cases in the US Embassy in Riyadh. Just like Yemen, the world stopped caring about Jamal Khashoggi.

Joshua Dario Hasenstab

General Coordinator