The Dissident
Directed by Bryan Fogel

IN THE wake of the release of a US intelligence report, which confirmed that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) ordered the murder of Washington Post columnist and Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi, comes a chillingly powerful and candid documentary on the questions — how, why and by whom — surrounding his assassination.

On October 2 2018 Khashoggi entered the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul to obtain a document to be able to remarry, and never came out — a plot straight out of a John Le Carre novel or a James Bond film.

With exclusive access to the Turkish government’s evidence, including a transcript of the audio recordings of Khashoggi’s killing and dismemberment, as well as his fiancee Hatice Cengiz, his friend and Saudi dissident Omar Abdulaziz, and intelligence and UN officials, Academy Award-winning director Bryan Fogel (Icarus) delivers an unbelievably gripping yet heartbreaking account — which will leave you both shaken and stirred.

Fogel also paints an intimate picture of a man who was prepared to do whatever it took to fight for freedom of speech.

“In Saudi Arabia having an opinion is a crime,” says Abdulaziz, who lives in exile in Canada. He claims that, having worked closely with the Saudi regime and the royal family for 30 years, Khashoggi “knew their secrets.”

To MBS he became an enemy of the state — not just a journalist, but a dissident. That’s why Jamal was killed,” claims Abdulaziz.

The film shows how, despite being a reformist, MBS controlled and influenced public thinking by launching an army of trolls on Twitter, which is used by 80 per cent of the Saudi population.

He clamped down on critics both inside and outside the kingdom with impunity. It also reveals how the world’s richest man, Jeff Bezos, was targeted by the Saudi regime too, when he distanced himself from MBS following Khashoggi’s killing and failed to step in when The Washington Post, which he owns, launched a campaign for justice for their murdered colleague.

Bezos’s phone was hacked before scandalous stories started appearing about him in the media.

It is frightening to see, but at its heart this is a documentary about how fragile freedom of speech is — and the importance of protecting it.

Yet, no direct action has been taken against the powerful MBS to date, and none will be by the Biden administration, despite the damning findings of the US intelligence report. His fiancee’s fight for justice continues.

Available on demand March 6