WHEREAS, Jamal Ahmad KJiashoggi, journalist, commentator, author, former general manager and editor-in-chief of the Al-Arab News Channel and a voice of moderation and tolerance in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was brutally slain for his beliefs while visiting the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, on October 2, 2018; and
WHEREAS, the City of Chicago has been informed of this tragedy by Alderman Edward M. Burke; and
WHEREAS, Jamal Ahmad Khashoggi was born in Medina on October 13, 1958 and received his elementary and secondary education in Saudi Arabia before obtaining a bachelor's degree in business administration from Indiana State University in 1982; and
WHEREAS, as a working journalist he served as a correspondent for the Saudi Gazette, assistant manager for Okaz and as a free-lance reporter for various publications including Asharq Al-Awsat, Al Mojalia and AI Muslimoon from 1985-1990; and
WHEREAS, in 1991 Jamal Ahmad Khashoggi became managing editor and acting editor-in-chief of Al Madina continuing on in that position until 1999; and
WHEREAS, during this busy eight-year period Jamal Ahmad Khashoggi served as a foreign correspondent in Afghanistan, Algeria, Kuwait, Sudan, and in the Middle East; and
WHEREAS, he then was appointed a deputy editor-in-chief of Arab News, serving from 1999 to 2003; and
WHEREAS, as a forceful advocate for tolerance, freedom of expression, equal rights for women in the Arab world and an end to policies of brutal repression, Jamal Ahmad Khashoggi moved to a more secular point of view in his writings, and was frank in his criticisms of Saudi politics and its on-going war in Yemen in his reporting for the Washington Post; and
WHEREAS, facing harsh criticism and censure from the Saudi government for his liberal views and advocacy for a reform agenda, he was banned by government authorities from publishing or appearing on television; and
WHEREAS, Jamal Ahmad Khashoggi went into self-imposed exile in June 2017, moving to Washington D...
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