Born in Medina, Jamal Khashoggi was one of the most prominent Saudi journalists of his generation, with a career that spanned nearly 30 years. Khashoggi earned a journalism degree at Indiana State University and returned to Saudi Arabia to work for Arab media outlets before making his mark as a foreign correspondent covering Algeria, Sudan, the Middle East and Afghanistan, where he became renowned for his interviews with Osama bin Laden. Khashoggi was part of the Saudi establishment and cared deeply for his home country, but wanted freedom of speech for its citizens.

In 2017, Khashoggi was recruited by Global Opinions Editor Karen Attiah as a columnist for The Washington Post. He had gone into self-exile that summer, moving to the U.S. because of his fear of being arrested at home. In his first column, Khashoggi wrote, “When I speak of the fear, intimidation, arrests and public shaming of intellectuals and religious leaders who dare to speak their minds, and then tell you that I’m from Saudi Arabia, are you surprised?”

Khashoggi continued to write about the crackdown on critical voices in his home country. In his words,

On October 2, 2018, Khashoggi was murdered inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. After denying it for weeks, Saudi Arabia indicted 11 people in the killing, including members of the Crown Prince’s entourage.

Jamal Khashoggi is survived by his fiancee, his children (with ex-wife Rawia al-Tunisi) Salah, Abdullah, Noha, and Razan, and three grandchildren.