Opinion | There Was Blood: Investors Should Reject Saudi-Aramco's Blood-Money Public Offering

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Benzinga editorial board.

On Oct. 2, 2018, Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and Saudi dissident, was murdered and dismembered with a bonesaw at the Turkish Embassy in Istanbul by a Saudi assassination team known as “Tiger Squad.”

This is not an opinion.

The subsequent reporting by The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and accounts released by Canadian PM Justin Trudeau and German Chancellor Angela Merkel confirmed there was corroborating evidence, including a gruesome audio recording of the entire act.

The assassination was orchestrated with the knowledge of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and was carried out by advisors in his direct circle of influence. This is also not an opinion.

Today, as time closes to place orders, investors are given an opportunity to reject the brutal, backwards values of MBS, the values of medieval free-speech crushing, and thin-skinned reactionism. In an age where journalism and journalists across the globe are under threat in Turkey, Egypt, Saudia Arabia, China, Russia, Iran, Morocco, Rwanda and in the United States of America by the President of the United States himself, free speech is a value that does not have a price tag.

Enabling this regime to diversify while reaping no consequences for the murder of an American columnist on foreign soil would embolden such an autocrat to go further and ask more. The sentence “the murder of an American columnist on foreign soil” is absolutely shocking and should shock you and should give you pause.

The Saudi’s actions are made no better by this administration's hemming and hawing, their capitulation over the brutal murder of a member of the press, and a direct attack on freedom of expression. All for a handful of military contracts.

The price has already been too high.

Steve Krause is an Opinion Editor and Copy Editor for Benzinga.com. He can be reached at stevekrause@benzinga.com

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