Rep. Schiff Demands Saudis Give Immediate Answers About Missing Journalist

Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat in the House Intelligence Committee, demanded Sunday that Saudi Arabia provide immediate answers regarding the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a critic of the regime in Riyadh.

“Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist and dissident, was called to the Saudi embassy in Istanbul on Tuesday, and has not been seen or heard from since,” Schiff said in a tweet. “Tragically, he is now feared dead. We must demand immediate answers from the Saudi government.”

A Turkish official told the BBC that initial investigations indicated Khashoggi was murdered in the consulate.

Saudi Arabia has denied the accusations and said the journalist left the consulate soon after he arrived there to obtain a document he needed to get married.

Khashoggi is a prominent Saudi dissident who wrote for the The Washington Post’s Global Opinions section and has been living in self-imposed exile in the U.S. capital, according to The Washington Examiner.

He has been skeptical of Crown Prince Mohammed’s much-hyped reform agenda to modernize the kingdom.

Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday called Khashoggi’s disappearance, “very, very upsetting,” but stopped short of confirming reports that Saudi Arabia had sent a hit team to kill him.

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