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JUDY WOODRUFF: In early
October, 2018, Washington
Post columnist and Saudi
national Jamal Khashoggi

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walked into Saudi Arabia's
consulate in Istanbul,
Turkey, in pursuit of
documents for his impending

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marriage.

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He did not know he was the one
being pursued. His brutal murder
there became a global story.

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He was perhaps the most
high-profile critic of
his homeland's monarchy.

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Now a new film charts his
life, his grisly death, his
legacy, and where Saudi Arabia

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is right now.

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Here's Nick Schifrin.

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NICK SCHIFRIN: Jamal Khashoggi's
murder snuffed out a critic
of today's Saudi government.

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Two years later, his allies are
trying to ensure his silenced
voice can still be heard.

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A new film shows a
complex man who never
completed his final act.

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Lawrence Wright is a writer
and the executive producer
of "Kingdom of Silence."

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LAWRENCE WRIGHT, Executive
Producer, "Kingdom of
Silence": I see Jamal's
life in three acts,

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just like a classical drama.

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NICK SCHIFRIN: That first act
was in Afghanistan, covering the
U.S.-backed Mujahideen fighting

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the Soviet Union. Khashoggi
helped make the leading Arab
anti-Russian fighter famous.

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JAMAL KHASHOGGI, The Washington
Post: I do not deny that I
had sympathy toward Afghan

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cause, because I myself come
out from Islamic circles. And
it was a big story, which kind

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of made my name in the
field of journalism.

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NICK SCHIFRIN: But after 9/11,
Khashoggi turned against bin
Laden's manipulated version of

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Islam. Khashoggi wrote
this, as read by an actor:

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ACTOR: "We must ensure that our
children can never be influenced
by extremist ideas, like

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those 15 Saudis who were misled
into piloting them and all
of us into the jaws of hell."

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NICK SCHIFRIN: Khashoggi
joined the Saudi government and
championed U.S.-Saudi relations,

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including the war in Iraq, but
then his third act. The Arab
Spring birthed his belief in

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freedom of speech as the
key to regional reform.

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He started a news channel
called Al Arab designed
to give Saudis access to
uncensored information.

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But the new Saudi King Salman,
and his son, Crown Prince
Mohammed bin Salman, or MBS,

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rejected Al Arab and
free media as a threat.

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Khashoggi had to flee
Saudi Arabia. He watched
as MBS persecuted his
critics and tolerated

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no dissent.

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Saudi activist Yahya Assiri
spoke at a recent Project on
Middle East Democracy event.

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YAHYA ASSIRI, Saudi
Activist; If you go, for
example, to challenge
the regime, to criticize

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the regime, they will
take you to prison.

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NICK SCHIFRIN: Khashoggi became
an MBS critic in the pages of
The Washington Post and wrote

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this:

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ACTOR: "Saudi Arabia wasn't
always this repressive.
I have left my home,
my family, and my job.

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And I am raising my voice."

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NICK SCHIFRIN: That cost him
his life. He walked into the
Saudi consulate in Istanbul

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and was murdered by Saudi
agents close to MBS. One even
put on Khashoggi's clothes and

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walked out of the
consulate to try and
deceive the CCTV cameras.

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SARAH LEAH WHITSON, Democracy
for the Arab World Now: This
kind of grotesque barbarism,

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having some guy trot out his
clothes, it was just too much.

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NICK SCHIFRIN: Sarah
Leah Whitson is a human
rights advocate, and
was a longtime friend

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of Khashoggi's. Last week,
she relaunched an organization
that Khashoggi created.

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NARRATOR: DAWN, Democracy
for the Arab World Now.

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SARAH LEAH WHITSON: The only
solution that will bring lasting
peace and ability, security,

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prosperity, but also dignity,
to the people of the region
was democracy and human rights.

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NICK SCHIFRIN: Initially, MBS
was considered a reformer. On a
2018 U.S. tour, he met Silicon

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Valley executives, the
U.N. secretary-general,
and President Trump.

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DONALD TRUMP, President of
the United States: We have
become very good friends.

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NICK SCHIFRIN: For the Trump
administration, MBS has helped
lead an anti-Iran alliance

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and bought American weapons,
including for the Saudi-backed
war in Yemen that has killed

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tens of thousands of civilians.

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Back home, MBS has ushered in
dramatic reforms, trying to curb
the conservative clergy's power

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and allowing women to attend
movies and sporting events.

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LAWRENCE WRIGHT: Jamal believed
that MBS offering some freedom,
some reforms, and taking away

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others. The one that he was
taking away was perhaps the most
valuable, which was the ability

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to speak, to have an opinion.

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NICK SCHIFRIN: DAWN is designed
to document those restrictions
and call out governments

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who support Arab autocrats.

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SARAH LEAH WHITSON: We need
to focus very specifically on
the way in which the American

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people, the American citizenry
are enabling and promoting a
dictatorship and tyranny in

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the Middle East.

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NICK SCHIFRIN: The Saudi
government said it punished
Khashoggi's murderers.

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But human rights organizations
say Saudi senior officials and
the man the CIA assessed likely

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ordered the murder walked free.

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LAWRENCE WRIGHT: I hoped that
there would be some kind of
accountability, but there's

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not. At the governmental
level, there's just not.

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SARAH LEAH WHITSON: While
judicial justice evaded us,
MBS has paid a huge price, and

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in the court of public opinion,
he has been found guilty.

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NICK SCHIFRIN: Last month, a
group of Saudis in exile formed
the country's first opposition

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party. The group hopes
to institute democracy
as a form of government
in the kingdom. That's

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not expected anytime soon,
but Wright believes Saudi's
ruling family faces reckoning.

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LAWRENCE WRIGHT: People are
beginning to wonder, do we
really need these people?

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I think, at that point,
Saudi Arabia's going to
face a terrible crisis,
and it would have

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done better if Jamal had been
here to help show them the way.

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NICK SCHIFRIN: Khashoggi didn't
live to see that final act,
but his death helped guarantee

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that the conversation he
started in life will continue.

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For the "PBS NewsHour,"
I'm Nick Schifrin.