Hi, this is Jim Denison with Denison Forum, and this is the Daily Article for Thursday, October 18, 2018.

Jamal Khashoggi, a famous journalist and critic of Saudi Arabia's leadership,

walked into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2nd to obtain some documents.

He has not been seen since.

His fiancé is afraid that he's been kidnapped or killed.

Turkish authorities claim to have evidence that he was tortured and murdered by Saudi agents.

Saudi officials insist he left the consulate shortly after arriving.

Let's survey what we know this morning.

Then we'll explore reasons why his disappearance is so significant to the Middle East and to the West.

Jamal Khashoggi was born in Medina in 1958. His grandfather was the personal physician of

King Abdulaziz al-Sad, the founder of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. His cousin, Dodi Fayette,

was dating Princess Diana when the two were killed in 1997. A longtime critic of the Saudi

government, he relocated to the United States in 2017 and began rioting for the Washington Post.

He founded a new political party this year, directly opposing the Saudi crown prince Muhammad bin Salman.

On the afternoon of October 2nd, he went inside the main entrance

of the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul to obtain a document proving he was divorced. He could

then marry his fiancé, a Turkish citizen, who waited outside. After he did not come back

out, she reported him missing. The Saudi government claims he left the consulate through a back

entrance. CNN reported on

Monday that the Saudis were preparing a statement acknowledging that Khashoggi's death was the

result of an interrogation gone wrong. According to CNN sources, the interrogation was intended

to lead to his abduction from Turkey. The report would likely conclude that the operation was carried out

...