Jamal Khashoggi was once a prominent Saudi journalist. He had been editor-in-chief of the Saudi Arabian daily newspaper Al Watan and covered major stories like the rise and eventual demise of Osama Bin Laden. He was once close to the Saudi royal family.
In September 2017, Khashoggi moved to the US where he began writing for The Washington Post. He wrote articles critical of Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader. Frustrated by his articles, bin Salman employed troll armies to silence Khashoggi. In 2017, bin Salman said he would use “a bullet” to stop the criticism.
In 2018, Khashoggi travelled to Turkey to collect divorce papers from the Saudi embassy. He did not want to re-enter Saudi Arabia - he feared for his life. On the 28th of September, Khashoggi visited the Saudi consulate in Istanbul but was told he would have to return another day. He entered the consulate again on the 2nd of October and never walked out.
The Saudi government initially denied Khashoggi’s death. They then said he died in a fight after Khashoggi resisted the embassy’s attempts to return him to Saudi Arabia. After that, they admitted they had tried to subdue Khashoggi with a drug and accidentally gave him an overdose. They said the Saudi Crown Prince had no knowledge of the murder.
Fast forward to the 25th of December 2020 when The Dissident was released in the US. It is a documentary, directed by Academy Award winner Bryan Fogel (of Icarus fame – you should watch it if you haven’t), about the killing of Khashoggi.
Prior to its release, even though the documentary followed one of the biggest stories of the last five years and is directed by an Academy Award winner, the producer, Thor Halvorssen, could not get Netflix to take it on. Eventually they found a smaller distributor and the film was released on demand.
After its release, the film, rated at 95%, received favourable reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. Then, on the 12th of January, after 500 bad reviews in one day, it plummeted to 68%.
Rotten Tomatoes said that “based on recent analysis, it appears that there have been deliberate attempts to manipulate the movie’s audience score”. The Washington Post said it is the work of a Saudi “troll army” aiming to destroy the reputation of the film. When a film gets a rating below 70% on Rotten Tomatoes, Halvorssen says, the “film is essentially dead”.
Mohammad Bin Salman spent years trying to silence Jamal Khashoggi. Eventually, behind close doors, he made Khashoggi vanish. Now, Khashoggi’s story is being told. It is a story that Netflix did not want to stream. It is a story that Saudi Arabia does not want you to see. It is released in Ireland on the 5th of March.
— Jonathan Lewis (@lonnyjewis)
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