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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.