Saudi Arabia has executed journalist Turki al-Jasser, who published materials about corruption in the royal family of Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud. He was imprisoned in 2018 on charges of “treason” and “threatening the national security” of the country. About execution reported Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry says Turki al-Jasser was charged with “terrorist crimes,” “conspiracies against the security of the Kingdom and those outside its borders,” and “receiving funds for these actions.”
The Committee to Protect Journalists reported that Saudi Arabia had not only surveilled Turki al-Jasser before his arrest, but also the American journalists of The Washington Post with whom he cooperated in his investigations.
Turki al-Jasser was arrested in 2018. He investigated corruption in the royal family of Saudi Arabia, wrote about women’s rights in the country and the Arab Spring. Saudi Arabia closed the media Al-Taqrir, with which the journalist cooperated. Before his arrest, al-Jasser was kidnapped.
“We are outraged by the execution in Saudi Arabia of the well-known journalist Turki al-Jasser, who was detained for seven years because the regime believed he had reported on allegations of corruption in the Saudi royal family.”, — emphasized Carlos Martínez de la Serna, program director of the Committee to Protect Journalists.
This is already the second known case of the murder of a journalist by Saudi Arabia. In 2018, journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed in the Saudi Arabian consulate in Turkey. Before that, Khashoggi left Saudi Arabia due to threats and a ban on journalism in the country. He wrote critical articles about the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman.
