The appalling death of Jamal Khashoggi, the human rights activist and journalist from Saudi Arabia, has shocked the Western world. Khashoggi, through his death, has awakened the world’s business and political leaders by the reality of misfortunes of not only the Arab journalists but the sufferings of all journalist living under the dictatorships around the world.
“I have left my home, my family and my job, and I am raising my voice,” Khashoggi wrote in September 2017 (Washington Post, September 2017). “To do otherwise would betray those who languish in prison. I can speak when so many cannot. I want you to know that Saudi Arabia has not always been as it is now. We Saudis deserve better.” Khashoggi’s death has put a spotlight on one of his recent comments: “Arab governments have been given free rein to continue silencing the media at an increasing rate (Washington Post, October 2018)”.*

If Khashoggi had not perished by a criminal act in his country’s consulate, we could have had the gathering of all business and political leaders of the Western world in Saudi Arabia for the planned International Economic Conference (Davos in the Desert), sitting not far from the place where the prisoners of conscience have been imprisoned – prisoners for whom Jamal had abandoned his home and family on a self – imposed exile to speak in the free world for their silenced voices.
Now, although he is not able to witness what is happening, because of his horrible demise that has brought about such extensive world-wide reaction and condemnation of his death, which we now hope will bring about a new light of hope to the life of thousands of Arab, African, Afghan, Iraqi and Iranian journalists.

We, the Iranian journalists who have escaped our own homeland, share this new hope.
We left our home to write freely and be the voice of our suppressed people. Our world gets darker than ever before when we hear that our journalists, friends and colleagues are arrested everyday one by one for writing an article, a simple report, or uttering a rightful criticism and are doomed to wither the rest of their precious lives in prisons or share the same destiny that has taken Jamal from us.

These sufferings have no end for us, especially when no western government pays attention to these events and their financial relationships with these dictators continue without any concern for the human rights leaving us with our futile hopes for freedom, especially freedom of expression.
No freedom-seeker can feel such pain like the journalists. It is because our calling and indeed our duty is to not only report the news, but also those realities (and at times atrocities) that are forbidden to be published. This is the reality for many journalists across the world who live their lives in anxiety and their devotions to reporting the truth suffers an agonizing death.
I am not sure that the new push for “freedom of expression in dictatorships” would continue and would not wither away by passage of time and when the saga of Jamal becomes old, we will soon again see the old practices (of dictators) return.

I do not know the answer but I am sure that even if all the leaders of the world and owners of vast capitals and companies forget this recent crime and regress to their usual silence, we the journalists who have no weapons but our pens will endeavor to realize the hopes of all Jamals’ of the world. This is because not only the Arab world but our whole world needs freedom of expression above anything else.

It is fortunate that in the last few years the wealthy countries have been obliged to share (and therefore experience) the pains and sufferings of other nations of the world with the arrival of refugees and migrants escaping the dire situations in their own countries. And it is my hope that perhaps this one day will bring about change in those countries. Otherwise we (as the people of the world) are doomed to experience more refugees, more wars, more crimes, resulting in an ugly, inhabitable and horrific world.
October 19, 2018
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* An extract from Jamal’s last article in Washington Post titled as “What the Arab world needs most is free expression” which was published after his death. October 2018.