Disturbing news has been circulating throughout media outlets and social media users on the whereabouts of the prominent Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi after he disappeared in Istanbul on Tuesday.
Khashoggi, 59, who is known for being a vocal critic of the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was last seen before entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Tuesday afternoon, where he went to finalize some paperwork related to his marital status.
Hours later, his fiancée said she is unable to contact him and he has not emerged from the building yet.
Khashoggi’s disappearance grabbed news headlines since it first announced with his close friends and associates urging the Turkish authorities to find him.
Amid news that he got arrested and deported to Saudi Arabia, official sources from the Turkish government confirmed to Reuters on Wednesday that Khashoggi is still inside the Saudi consulate building.
The political expert and commentator has left Saudi Arabia after MBS was appointed and went to live in Washington, D.C. where he currently works for the Washington Post.
While the news flooded the Saudi and Middle Eastern social media, reactions were mixed. Many prominent figures expressed their support for Khashoggi.
Others had another opinion on it.
Fears that Khashoggi might got trapped or arrested by the Saudi government inside the consulate are rising. Especially that it comes in time when any Saudi voice comes out as critical to the government or the Crown Prince’s policies is being silenced, with tens of Saudi activists and clerics currently in prison and some facing possible death sentences.
