Brussels — Journalist and political essayist Isaac Hammouch is set to release a new book in the coming weeks titled The Murder of Khashoggi: A State Crime? The Responsibility of Mohammed bin Salman.
The forthcoming publication revisits the assassination of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018 — a case that provoked global outrage and intensified scrutiny of state accountability and press freedom.
Khashoggi, a prominent columnist and critic of Saudi policies, had entered the consulate to obtain documents required for his upcoming marriage. He never emerged. Turkish authorities later revealed that a team of Saudi operatives had arrived in Istanbul shortly before his visit. According to Turkish investigations, Khashoggi was killed inside the consulate building, and his body was subsequently dismembered. His remains have never been recovered.
The incident triggered multiple international investigations. A report mandated by the United Nations concluded that Khashoggi’s killing constituted an extrajudicial execution for which the Saudi state bore responsibility under international human rights law. Several intelligence assessments, including those made public by Western governments, suggested that the operation was unlikely to have occurred without high-level authorization — a conclusion that Riyadh has repeatedly denied.
Hammouch’s forthcoming book reportedly draws on publicly available intelligence findings, international reports, and legal analyses to examine questions of command responsibility and geopolitical consequence. Beyond recounting the facts, the work places the assassination within a broader framework of international law, diplomatic immunity, and the tension between strategic alliances and human rights principles.
Based in Brussels, Hammouch has written extensively on political accountability and democratic governance. With this publication, he appears to situate the Khashoggi case within the broader global debate over the right to truth in cases of grave human rights violations.
The official release date is expected to be announced shortly.
