Jamal Khashoggi is not the firstSaudi exile to be killed. No one today remembers Nassir al-Sa'id, who disappeared in Beirut in 1979 and has not been seen since.
Prince Sultan bin Turkiwas kidnapped in Genevain 2003. Prince Turki bin Bandar al-Saud, who applied for asylum in France,disappeared in 2015. Maj Gen Ali al-Qahtani, an officer in the Saudi National Guard who died while in custody,showed signs of abuse: his neck appeared twisted and his body was badly swollen. There are many, many others.
Thousands languish in jail. Human rights activists branded as terrorists are on death row on charges that Human Rights Watchsays "do not resemble recognisable crimes". I know of one business leader who was strung upside down and tortured. Nothing has been heard of him since. In Saudi Arabia, you are one social media post away from death.
A Saudi plane dropped a US-madebomb on a school bus in Yemenkilling 40 boys and 11 adults on a school trip. Death is delivered by remote control, but no western ally or arms supplier demands an explanation. No contracts are lost. No stock market will decline the mouth-watering prospect of thelargest initial public offering in history. What difference does one more dead Saudi make?
Last Saturday, Khashoggi told a Middle East Monitor conference in London that the kingdom realised it had gone too far in encouraging President Donald Trump's "deal of the century" bypromoting Abu Dis as the future capitalof a Palestinian state, and has backed away from what is proving to be a burning issue in Saudi Arabia.
He did just that to the fury of those who wanted to shut him up. And it's clear from his tweets why they went to such desperate lengths to do so. He laughed at the idea thatSaudi Arabiaunder Mohammed bin Salman was fighting for "moderate Islam".
My bet is that nothing will happen as a result of Khashoggi's murder. Bin Salman has calculated thatTurkeyis too weak to reply, with about $700bn in public and private debts that have to be repaid by a falling lira.
"If a prince can pay $1 billion in return for his freedom, how much will a prisoner of conscience have to pay? How much will we all pay to get our freedom?"Khashoggi tweeted.