>> narrator: tonight- >> you'll remember he came to the united states and was lauded, literally, from coast toteoast. >> narrator: frontline takes a hard look at saudi arabia's prince mohammed bin saan.lm >> the trump white house had chosen its saudi friend and that was mbs. >> narrator: he was embraced as a reformer... >> he sold himself, es sold his vision. >> people were mmerized. >> narrator: ...but there was another side.de. >> there were dissidents whore wered. >> they want to put them into a position where they're completely broken and nced. >> priries and big businesspeople put under constant observation. >> he seemed to t more hyper, more intense, more committed too going after his enemies the more powerful hbecame.

>> narrator: and then the brutal murder of a jourlist.li d. khashogghi was interrogated, torturednd murde >> did the regime kill jamal khashoggi?ra >> narrontline correspondent main smithth inveiges... >> even the president sa worst cover-up i've ever seen."s >> narrator: tonight on frontline- "the crown prince of saudi arabia". >> frontline is made possible by contributions our pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. and by the corporation for public broadcasting. major support is provided by the john. and catherine t. macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdan and peaceful world. more information at macfound.org. the ford foundation: working with visnaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide. at fordfoundation.org.po addition is provided by the abramfoundation, committed to excellence in journalism. the park foundatio dedicated to heightening public awareness of critical issues.en the john and hlessner family trust.

supporting trustworthy journalism that inrmrmand inspires. and by the frontline journalism fund, with major support from jon and jo ann hagler. and additional support from chris and lisa kaneb. ♪ b (whistwing distantly) (man speaking arabic) >> martin smith: it is december 2018. 's been less than three months since the murder andrm dismemt of journalist jamal khashoggi. but just outside of riyadh,ad saudi s and some of their friends are gathered for a celebration. (laughter)

featured iura big electric-car race, intended to showcase the kinds of reforms underwahere. (whistles owing, horns honking) i have manag to get into the royal box. there's adel al-jubeir, udi arabia's foreign minister at th- time; mohammeikh, a former world bank lawyer and now a minister of state; multibillionaire prince al-waleed bin talal, among the world'richest men. and over there is norman roule, a former senior c.i.a. officialr he's tking to the world's largest private collector of rembrandts, thomas kaplan. and of course there's distinguished royalty-- the powerful mohammed bin zayed, crown prince of abu dhu i; princess reema, now saudido

arabia's ambasto the u.s.; his royal highness prince khalid bin salman, now deputy minister of defense; and, his big brother, the crown prince himself, mohammed bin salman. >> i hope i will do that, but if i do that i would be... >>mith: i came here to understand who he is and where d is taking sau arabia. i especially wan speak to him about the khashoggi murder. buwe'll come back to that later. >> now, no, but in the first we have, we have zero... al smith: fowenow, his roy highness just wants to watch the race below. >> second car. ♪ ts >> smith: he wo put theth murder behind him. ♪

(horn blows) (ship's horn blows) ♪ much is already known about that day last october, oben jamal khashoggi and his fiancée took a xi to the saudi consulate in istanbul. he entered just ter 1:00 p.m. to pick up some paperwork they needed for their wedding. but when the office closed and emerged, word spread. >> here i s, looking at my twitter feed, and somebody i follow, who is close to jamal, saying that jamal khashoggi went into the saudi consulate i istanbul and he has, he has not gone out. and i remember retweeting that

message, saying, "wth," what the heck? >> a prominent sdi jouaualistt disappearein instanbul. u. jam khashoggi, a saudi arabian citizen an... >> smith: at the time, khashoggi "washington post" and haddto the the crown prince.es critical of >> he was last seen entering the saudi consulate in istanbul, turkey. >> jamal khashoggi hasn't been seen since. >> i was baffled by the ideaco that hd walk into a consulate andisappear. i couldn't understand who would that, because even if you wanted to kill a dissident, or someone that you felt waata dissid t, why would you do it in your own consulate? you lose plausible deniality. >> the mystery deepens tonight t ov fate jamal khashoggi. >> the saudi government claims that jamalalhashoggi eeredhe consulate and left shortly afterwards. even among saudis thes, people were shocked by it. he's not a political oppositio

he didn't ever call for oustinge thme. so it't'something th was... very much unprecedented. >> a turkish newspaper claimed officials had an aud recording ofhashoggi being tortured.ud >> ...ana doi agents rdered khashoggi in the consulate.ul >> khashog k's body was carved up into little pieces. >> is one thing to know that he'd been kidnapped. it was another thing to know not only had he been killed, but he'd been tortured. for anybody that you've known for a long time to end that way, mit just... just didn't s right. >> saudi arabia is scrambling to carrout damage control. >> the crown prince himself is the principal suspect. >> this is a man who we've been trying to understand and cope th.e ismodernizer or a tyrant? >> prince mohammed bin salman is now facing greater scrutiny tha. ever bef so who is the man in charge of saudi arabia?

♪ >> smith: our story begins with prince mohammed's father, salman bin abdulaziz al saud. was born in 1935 and is believed to be the 25th son of thkingdom's founder. he was appointed governor of riyadh at a young age, a position he held for almost half a century. it was a time of extradinary change. g >> salman ernor of riyadh literally turned a small desert town into a thriving cy. there were maybe a 100,000 people living in riyadh when hee became governor backe 1960s. day it's somewhere around seven or eight million people. ♪ >> smith: it was during this period of growth that young mohammed bin salman, born inmoha 1985, grew up. but little is known about his

early years or why his father fared him. he had many sons. he picked this particular son, the oldest of his third marriage-- why? >> i understand that the crown prince and the king have spentul an aot of time together. and they have a similar way of looking at theorld. (bin salman speaking arabic)eaki (applause) the kingngppeared to groom him to share his view on issues such as corruption, the duties of the royal family, and thesp sibilities to sustain the al saud kingdom. ♪ >> smith: most young royals sty abroad at some point. not prince mohammed. he remained in riyadh, by his father's sid through highh school and college.. >> as i understand it, once o graduated he was e wloyed by his father, working-- and i assume, learning frofrom trk---- when his father was thewas governor.

>> apparently that's what he did for some yea, was attend a a of his father's meetings and make himself useful. >> smith: hammed'sather, while governor, had the responsibility of settling disputes within the rol family.o >>erybody who had a problem obth a rival prince orsp had a-a e, they will go to him. and he was known to be very, very sict, in terms of disciplining princ. >> he was kns n, for instance, to discipline peopop that he didn't like, including physicly syspping people. >> he was, according tthe stories, famous for calling in princes who refused to pay bank loans and putting them in ath rath luxurious villa and whasuring them to pay what they owed, and they did. >> and everything that was buried in the closet, he khew about it. and he had helped sweep it under or get rid of or fix it or

whatever. those files, of course, he has now transferred entirely over to his son, who has all of that information going back literally a half a c. this gives them enormous influence within the house of saud, because ey know everycaus peccadilery fault that every member of the family has had. (indistinct conversation) >> smith: in 2015, upon the death of hof predecessor,lm saan, at age 79, became king. he acted quickly to move his son prince mohammed into the line of succession. first, prince muqrin, his predecessor's choice for crown prince, was quickly removed. >> no explanation was ever offered. he was just removed and replaced by the then-deputy crown prince, mohammed bin naye mohammed bin nayas a knownan quty tthe centl intelligence agency, mi6, to

every intelligence servicear ound the world.d >> smith: s is moved up behind him? >> right. >> smith: mbs or, mohammed bin salman, was now second in line to the throne. he was 29. >> the saudi system is anlu ab monarchy. e.d king's will is abs ng salman decided at mbs is going to be his successor. f shared his views, which are very aggressive, instance, on iran. he also has a tohness that i ink the king didn't see others. >> smith: what do you an by toughness? >> an ability to use coercive por, if necessary, against domestic enemies and-and regional enemies i think the king has a view that saudi arabia is a country that cannot be e led, you know, with kid gloves. ♪ >> smith: mbs wasted little time

in putting his toughness on display.fr hly appointed d nister of defense, he went othe offensive in neighboring yemen. ♪ >> allahu akbar! (explosion)en >> a new ove tdrive out iranian-backed rebels who seized control of the capital and key military sites. >> smith: the houthi rebels in yemen were advancing with support from saudi abia's archenemy, iran. ♪ fombs, this was an uents an national-security threat. >> officials say t t saudi campaign was quickly planned, catching top u.s. military >> smith: he went ahead, giving the obama adnistration little notice. ne suddenly, mbs comes, and he says, "i'll defiur national-security interests almost independently."

it's n this risk-averse saudi arabia that we had gotten useded to. ♪ (explosions, screaming) (siren bring) >> smith: so elders in the royal family were said to have posed the offensive, believing it was rash-- crown prince bin nayef among them. but young prince mohammed prailed. it became known as mbs's w. >> and there was a groundswell of young saudis that it was like, "go, mohammed, go."o. this is the first time thatud saarabia had ever for ht in a war like this outside of their own borders. and it was hugely aspular, because the way that he framed it was, "quick, in and out. we'll fix it, done." ♪

supporters of the yemen campaign was this man. i, ist you. >>hoa. >> smith: jamal khashoggi. >> it is coffee that roasted lightly with cardamom.mi >>: ah, with cardamom. and when you drink coffee in saudi arabia, where is thee is coffee from? is it fr africa? >> originay from yemen, alal mokha. >> smith: i asked him why the rush to war in yemen wasec necessary, elly in light of reports of many civilian sualties. >> if saudi arabia waited for mr. obama to approve an intervention in yemen, yemen would have been gone and los long time ago. itould be controllthe iranians and the houthi. soe did not wait for mr. obama's appral. ani ink that empowers saudi arabia. >> smith: is saudi arabia committing human-rights abuses in its bombing campaign? >> look, for saudi arabia, it is a 1939 moment.

>> smith: so ye comparing iran to nazi germany? >> yes. in saudi arabia, we are at that moment. we either accept iranianny hegecontrol over yemen and over our destiny, or freedom. or >> let's get me on the saudi position. i'm joined by jamal khashoggi.at >> smithhe time, khashoggi was not a big critic of the regime. >> jamalhashoggi, welcome backsh to the program. >> smith: he was, for the most part, a pro-government voice. >> jamal was a journalist, an analyst, but also a client of the saudi government. >> smith: an insider? >> an in... absolute insider. >> is saudi arabia breaking diplomatically...yo >> he's someonwent to to understand the politics of the country. >> the irony of things that we are almostn total agreement... >> to understand the relationship with islamism. >> blowing up himself,is totay absurdn islam. >> he had always worked for one prince or anotr, was extremely close to prince turki

al-faisal, for instanc >> he was okesman for the embassy in london and then in washington when i was ambassador in both. >> smith: right. s he ever somebody, did he complain about the kingdom? >> jamal always had ideas, and-and heas very-very open with those ideas. (khash and faisal speakingng arabic) he was boisterous. he had a good nse of hor, sotimes laughing at himsel sometimes laughing with others. and he was a very professional journalist. 's >> let another perspective, now, from saudi journalist jamal khashoggi. >> smith: in those days khashoi was especially enthusiastic about mbs when he talked about the need for reform. >> and he is seen as a savior by young saudis and-and by me >> the fact that you have a newe king and a young advisor, in the

person of mohammed bin salman, at gave hope to jamal. >> smith: in 2016, after meeting pwith mbs, khashoggi madent of tweeting this. it's the only photograph we've seen of the two of them together. (boys speaking arabic, shouting) i've been coming to saudi arabiy for ears. over that time i witnessed very little change. but in recent years i've been surprised. (band playing music) onnight in march 2017, i w invited to an art studio.. (band continues playing) (people clappinghythmically) young men were gathered for anic evening of m this was unusual in a place li riyadh, where perfor like this had long been banned by

saudclerics. (oud playing) in the past, hosting an evening li this could lead to arrests. mbs put an end to that. (man singing in arabic)) (singing continues) (men singinglong) (instruments playing) (man singing) many saudis knew that the country needed to change bot culturally and economically. for years saudi arabia derived most all of its income from oil sales. but oil prices have been falling, the private sector is weak, and youth unployment is high. (car horn honking) >> in saudi arab there was very little change, the economy wahighly inefficient, women

played no role. there was a tremendous amounof corruption. it was in exactly the sort ofex place you would exped if yougo had rnment run by elderly men ruling by consensus. ♪ >> every single developmental plan-- and these started ithe late '60s, early '70s-- had two main sentences in it: diversing the economy away from oil and less dependencil smith: it's always been the case, you'velways pushed for that, and you' never gotten there. >> we've always pushed for that, we've always talked about that. but we were never able to achieve that. this time we were doing something. ♪ >>llmith: the king gmbs rein. it was ambitious beyond anythina saudi arad attempted before. (bin salman speaking arabic):

>> smith: mbs's plan was to import western technology, western entertainment, and to open up the notoriously clos kingdom to become world-class tourist destination. >> the crown prince, he has an imagination that have never experienced anybody with. i'm out 17 years old than he is, bui really look up to him as a leader. (applause) >> smith: many who met the yng prince were initially impressed. charismatic, decisive, with a vision-- not a plan, but aso broa of, "ththe'the lighthouse, i have to get to." >> smith: you ththght he was a good thing. h >> i thougwas a-a good thing.di

you say, "i'm dealing with a different kind of saudi than'v anythingever seen." >> smith: mohammed bin saln planned to finance his vision 2030 by taking saudi arabia'sau oil giant, aramco public, in an i.p.o. >> the bigst investment banks in the world have been salivating over the prospects. (bin salman speaking arabic) >> smith: to expand the economy, he also needed to intrsome major social reforms.st >> hs the religious police from having the right to arrest anyone in public f alleged infringement against publicmo lity. women, for instance, were ten targeted for not bei appropriately dressed. religious police can no long do anything. >> now you go to the malls, and. you'reax total segregation that w in place in this society is cracking down. we were hidden, bay, for a

very long time, you know, just workn very traditional jobs, job anwithin the family protection. so now we're coming out in every aspect. >> smith: and you creditpr ce mohammed? >> for all this. for all this. and-and actually king salman. >> reforming the relious-cultural space, integrating women-- these are historic things that leaders were unable to do over the last 50 years. >> smith: out of these changes would co a new saudi identity. >> as they have reined in the religious police, mohammed bin salman and the people around him have de-emphasized religion. and in its place has been this idea of,hat nationalism is most important. >> this hyper-nationalist narrative that saudi arabia is great... (b salman):

>> it is in line of what is happening around the world. a new generation of leaders are using the same language and the same rhetoric. (applause, interviewer speaking) >> smith: mbs, not his father the king or crown prince bin nayef, became the emblem of and abroad.rabia both here (cheering, man speaking arabic) e (man sing arabic) but all the chanandid not mean that saudi arabia would become more politically open orra to. >> he looked like a very pro-western, pro-technology guy.

what i think was never prope yat interr was what kind of political system did he have in mind. >>mith: politically minded saudis didn't quite know what to expect. but for themeconomic and social changould be meaningless without real polical reform. (yahya al-assiri): ♪ >> smith: yahya al-assiri is a prominent human rights activiste him at a conference organized of saudis in london. (assiri): >> sth: in recent yearss increasi numbers of saudis haveeft the country--wr

wr academics, and activists of all kinds. >> tg main thing we're callin for is we want freedom of speech, freedom of aembly, freedom of movement where the people can have the righof self-determination. (speaking arabic): >> smith: what kind of a man is mohammed bin salman? >> mammed bin salman... ♪ >> smith: in march 2017 mohammed binalman agreed to meet with me in his office a riyadh's irqah palace. i wanted to talk to him about political reforms. mostly about his economic plans and the new s. president,

donald trump. interview.r an on-camera he saihe wasn't quite ready. the next day, i was surprised to receive a text. (phone dgs) (horn honks) ♪ meanwhile, jamal khashoggi continued to be sought after as a commentator. after america's 2016 election,16 he video conferenced in to a u.s. think tank from the middle east. >> thank you, thank u fornk y inviting me. i'm sure saudi arabian officials were caut off-guard by the election of mr. trump... >> smith: hicomments weren't especially negative, just cautionary. >> if we had difficulties with somebody like mr. obama, i'm sure we will have more difficulties with-with mr. ump. >> he waadvising gulf governments, including saudi

arabia, t put all their eggs in trump's basket. >> more chaos we have in the reon, the more... relations.her to diversify their >> mr. trump haso choo. he cannot be critical of thean uclear program and not see the chaos theyeyre creatin it is not just...no >> smith: it iclear if he realized he had crossed a red line. t he had. in very clear terms, he told friends and colleaguudi authorities ordered him to nothr longer write or tweet or appr on tv. >> this speech in particular was seen by mohammed bin salman as likely to be interprete as being ant atrump and his inner circle. >> smi>>: so, "don't get between me and the trump administration." >> yes. (horns blong fanfare)

smith: the importance of donald trump to the saudud was made abundantly cleain the way they greeted him in riyadh in may 2017. >> the grandeur of this welcome presidents.rent from past >> really just showing how excited this country is that president trump has chosen sdi abia to make his first stop. >> it's a huge coup for mbs and king salman. (band playing "star spgled banner") in that it's able to bring the st powerful person in the world to saudi arabia and to rekindle the strategic alliance that ad frayed under president obama.or sobs, this is a massive victory. (band playing) >> sth: the saudis used the trip to influence the president on a variety of issues. >> and t saudis knew how tokn play donald ump. they'd seen this kind of pd son before, in many ys he's kind of a mirror image of many saudi princes.

>> everywhere you look there are posters welcoming donald trump. >> you put his picture uon big sters on the side of skyscrapers. >> pretty amazing welcome ceremony tt president trump is receiving... >> you p on the sword dance. (drums beating, men singing) you put on a bigisplay. (playing bagpipes) >> king salman bin abdulaziz al saud confers king abdulaziz medal on president donald trump. (applause) >> you play to his ego, and he will do what you want him to do. ♪ >> smith: what the saudis wawaed from trump was u.s. help in beating iran and supporting saudi ambitions to become the dominant player in the middle east. in return, mbs made promises to

help trump and his son-in-law jared kushner resolve theia israeli-palestconflict. e mohammed bin salman would tell people, "i middle east that's going to include israel. i'm prepar to recognize israel, have trade relationships with israel."d think that was very seductive to the trump administration and at the centerpiece of the-the peace plan that kushner kept trying to push. op>> the president and his aides taking steps to solidify relations with the muslim world. >> to give credit to mohammed bin salman of his many er accomplishments,mi the groong and wooing of donald trump has to be pretty close to the top. ♪ >> smith: during the visit, trump agreed to an arms deal worth over $100 billion. >> we signed historic agreemento with the kingdom. and we will be sure to help our

saudi friends to get a good deal from our great american defense companies. ♪ >> smith: for the saudis, the trip was great triumph. they had been reassured that trump had their back. ♪ ♪ at the exact same time trump was in riyadh, i was iyemen. the war was in third year.♪ ♪ the saudis, with u.s. military assistance, were continuing their air campaign. the iranian-backed houthi rebewe not retreating. but prince mohammed was-- as he told m- confident that with just a little more time he could win here.

>> we heard bombs and we afraid, things... >> big boom, like that. >> i see the boys of my neighbor has died. and blood on the floor. >> smith: i visited a yemeni refugee camp. (woman speaking arabic): >> smithwhy are the saudis doing this? (woman 1): ♪

>> smiththen with the war in yemen at a slemate, and within weeks of trump's trip to's the region, mbs launched a new foreign policy adventure against another neighbor-- r the veh nation of qatar. >> sdi arabia, brain, the u.a.e., among others, broke off diplomatic contact... >> smith: for years the saudisse had acthe qataris of financing terrorist groups and being soft on ir. now mbs chose to act. >> witn a night, saudi arabia cut trading routes, transportation into qatar. they severed diplomatic relations. it was a demand for total capitulation, turning qatar into a vassal sta. it was a very brutal move. >> countries blockadinthis nation has sent qataa 13-point listf demands... >> qatar has been asked to curb plomatic and trade relations with iran. >> smith: among thdemands was that qatarhut down its giant, state-owned badcasting

netwk, al jazeera. >> saudi arabia doesn't see why tiny countries like qatar should have this disproportionate say in the region. so this time, they went for the jugular. >> the qataris have pushed incitement and extremism through r media platforms in order to destabilize countries. this is why are saying to the qataris, "enough is enough. this has got to stop if you want to have normal relations with us." >> smith: trump tweeted his support of the saudis, seeming to agree with them thaqatar "so good to see thsaudi arabia visit... already paying off. perhaps thisthill be the beginning of the end to horror of terrorism!" ♪ what trump seemed to have forgotten is that qatar is a major u.s.s.lly at hosts the largest americ military y se in the middle st. trump tried to negotiate a

settlement, but the qataristh would not cave to saudi demands. >> to the benefit of the qataris, they have a tremendous amount ofinancial resources. they have learned to livet withr neighbors. they have weathered the blockade without any kind of major economic problems. they, in fact, have prospered. ♪ >> smith: but mbs refused to lift the boycott. >> he wants to be the most imrtant leader who decides on policies of the region. it's the desire, i think, by mbs to be the dominantegional fire. >> smith: mbs was also determined to be the dominant decision-maker at home.ma one n stood in his way: crown prince mohammed bin nayef. ♪ on the night of june 20, two weeks after the atck on qatar, bin nayef was summoned by the king.

saudi tv broadcast this cafully choreographed scene. (bin nayef): (bin salman): >> essentially, what mbs did was to break the personality and power of mbn as ief rival, humilie him, and then make a show of kissing mohammed bin nayef's ring, as if he w being submissive. (bin nayef and bin salman): >> mohammed bin nayef went along with ts little bit of choreography only to be moved into, effectively, house arrest. now, it's a nice hse, it's a palace. but he's held thereo incommunicunder essentiallyrr palace at. >> the former crown prince was inharge of saudi arabia's secubety services, he has been relieved ol position.

>> smith: within hours of the news, trump calledohammed bin salman to congratulate him. >> mohammed bin nayef may have been the c.i.a.'s bests riend, but he wasn't donald trump's best frien let alone jared kushner's. the trump white house had chosen its sai friend and that, and that was mbs. ♪ (man shouting command)d) >> smith: overnight, mbs had engineered a hugely successful neuver. as you understood it-- and you're close to the saudis-- how did you understand the n d to oust mohammed bin nayef? >> my sense is that the-the urgency that the kininand th crown prince felt as to the need for changes in the kingdom's economic and political structure was such that it compelled themm toe that decision. (soldiers shouting)

>> smi: with mohammed bin nayef removed, the new crown princes, was now firmlin charge. >> he became the guy running the royal urt. he became the defense minister. and he had also taken overtaro effective contof the interior mtry from crown prince mohammed bin nayef. the whole ball of wax was now in the hands of one man in a way that was really unprecented. ♪ >> smith: saudis were already gettina peek at what mbs's reforms would look like. (riders screaminhappily)y) this fun zone had open inside a riyadh mall. along with all the rides and shops is a b multiplex movie theater shg all the latest features.an cinemas were bned for decades.

but now mbs's planas to open 350 theaters across the kingdom. (riders screaming happily) what people weren't seeing at the time was the behind-the-scenes effort to control how much freedom would be allowed. ♪ >> the changes in the kingdom were going to unleash severalra different pressures. first, you were going to haveou thnds of religious police who would sa "i oppose this."poe you would inevitably also have thousands ofther sdis,ho would say, "i want far more than you're wling to give." i think the saudis made a decision that they need to mehow, somehow manage that. (indistinct conversation) >> smith: in saudi arabia, two thirds of the country is under 30, with the largest population ofwitter users in the middle ea.

>> saudi was a twitter country you know, they expressed themselves on twitter. they used to call it the saudiss congre. and twitter was fairly open. >> smith: but when mbs became crown prince, that would change. >> mbs begano realize that shaping the debate on twitter, manipulatinghe debate, inusively watching what people were writing and thinking, was going to be part of how he would control power. (street noises, children talking) >> i think it would be a while before saudis understood what was happening, that the entire landscape of twitter in saudi aria was shifting from thi open platform where people feltr comftable to express opinions to something that was more like

an instrumt of oppression. ♪ >> smith: mbs would pick a close aide, saud al-qahtani, to police twitter.wo over time mbd rely on him do much more.ak (man speg arabic) that's him at a large software-development competition that he organized in jeddah. >> saudi federation for cybersecurity and programming, you are ficially amazing.ar congraralations. (applause) >> mohammed bin salman saw in him the kind of saudi who's interested in high-tech, who knows sos al media, who can d binte, you know, m salman's profile and visions and ideas through this medium. (applause) ♪

>> smith: qahtani had one of the most influential twitter accounts in the kingdom. he is also a poet who has composed verse about the royal family. (man singing): >> he is very sharp, very witty, knows quite a lot about local culture, and knows all theur lists, knows all the intellectuals. and he's very compt. in other words, if you task him with something, he will work very hard, very disciplined, and he will do it. ♪ >> smith: one of the things he was tasked to do was to influence opinion on twitterth ugh hundreds of real or automated fake accounts, or bots. a cybersecurity expert who has tracked saudi digital operations

is bill marczak. >> saud al-qahtani, he used a couple of alcoses that pple were able toe race. owand they found him, you active on hacker forums, bragging about his abilities to createcrwitter bots andwiea inuence the social media discourse. ♪ so you say, "oh, well, loo, all the tweets, like, 80% of the tweets on this hashtag are pro-mbs. hmm, maybe all of saudi isf but in reality, no, there's only a few dozen people behind that.: >> smihtani also used twitter to go after crics, like saad al-faqih. in exile for decades.een livg three times a week, he records a broaast fohis youtube channel out of an improvised basement studio in north london.

>> smith: people like faqihed could be bombaith scores of insults, and sometimes threatat in the space of a fofho s. qahtani's electronic forcebe me known as an "army of flies." >> saud al-qahtani, he has got an army. their job is to face the computer and either write tweeto write comments on cebook.ybe, these comments are dirted by him by his team, either to promome the regi or torite things against what we write. >> smith: what's the nature of these comments? " that is the nature. the nature is thhammed bin salman is a great man. mohammed bin salman is aero. and dr. al-faqih, mr. so-and-so are all traitors."

>> smith: is it effective in screditing you? >> it's not effective in tms of discrediting, but it is effective in terms of intimidation. ♪ >> smith: the saudis may have even infiltrated twitter. ♪ in 2015 western intelligenced officials learat the saudis had developed ties with a twitter engineer. according to three sources whord spoke to "the new york times," they "persuaded him to peer into several user accounts." twitter alerteal-faqih that heon may have been those targeted. >> we found out that there was an inv itigation into this saudi individual aually being a mole of sorts inside twitter for the royal court. >> so being someone inside

twitter, thiemployee could algedly access private details of accounts. >> smith: and that could be valuable in terms of identifying a network of activist's say? >> absolutely. i think to a large extey sort of know who the activists are. but what are they saying? at are they planning? what-what's going to happen next? ♪ e >> smith: thspected mole was inside twitter for around two ars. how unusual is it for twitter to have a mole inside theompany, downloading private messagesd- d taking profile information? well, it's e first case we've heard of something likee th. this was the first time that these, you know, stateponsored threat messages, saying, "oh, some nation-state is-is tryi toccess your account." ♪ >> smith: although there was nol evidhat he shared information with the saudi government, twter, with nodifi public commentd the engineer, ali alzabarah. w

e unable to reach him. >> he has left the unite states, and he is now inside saudi arabia, working in an affiliated organization to the royal court. >> smith: while at the royal court's media office, qahtani so created a special hashtagpe on twitter. it started as a register of all those opposed to prince q mohammedar boycott. but it grew to become much more. the official hashtag isth blacklist. every name on it will be looked into. ♪ >> the blacklist invites every citizen of saudi arabia to become an accomplice in idtifying a person to be put on blacklist whether it is a poli to open up the economy, whether it is about women's ing, or israeli-palestinialict.on on the

you might have a dispute with someone. you might actually inform the authorities that they areic cr of the regime. and this is, basically, the deepest point in repression, when it sinks so much that i makes citizens its own arm in controlling the population. ♪ >> smith: a specific blacklist was put together to target journalists. auudis learnedbout it ondi state tv. >> on that blacklist were people who qahtani thought were roeaking against the crown princespeaking against existing power structure in udi arabia. ♪ >> smith: as the blacklist expanded, qahtani made sure

everyone knew who was directinge him.m.i' "do you thinacting on my own whim? i am a civil servant and faithful executioner of the orders of the king and the crown prince." >> interesting thing about mbs is that you'd think wi the power that he'd consolidated, he would have begun to relax. the opposite happened. he seemed to g g more hyper, more intense, more commied to going after his-s enemies, the-the re powerful he berame. >> your target may be outside your monitoring domain. is passive monitoring enough? smith: the royat also reached out to an italian surveillance outfit, hacking team. >> you have to hack your target. exactly what we y . >> smith: companies that sell hacking and tracking software te goves who want to spy on their citizens is a

multim lion-dlar business. >> rely on us. >> smith: hacking team received an email from a saudi rodressma in 2015. "considering your esteemed reputation and professnalism, we here at the center for media monitoring and analysis at theco saudi royat would like to be in productive cooperation with you... be so kind as to sentous the complete list of services that your esteemed company offers. saud al-qahtani." we couldn't reach hacking team. but it w just one of the surveillance companies the saudis reached out to. ♪ (woman speaking inrabic) at that london conferenci attended, dissidents discussed their r ars of being surveilled.

>> smith: today the saudi government has the power to hack any of its citizens. ♪ >> smith: in m 2018 yahya al-assiri received a text messagfrom a source he did not recognize. t >> smith: al-assiri was touch with bill marczak at citizen lati >> we were able to both identify the link that he'd received was connected to nsoroup's pegasus spyware.rc >> smith: nso is an israeli company that delops spyware called pegasus.

>> it can rn your phoneca microphone on, it can turn on your phone camera, it turns your earphone in a spy device. it can break any encrypted message on your phone. that's technology mbs got froms his new friein secret in israel. ♪ >> smith: is there much an activist lyahya al-assiri can do to prevent themselves from being hacked? >> unfortunately, there's really not. for these sorts of top-tiere targs, when the government i willing to expend essentially unlimited resources to go afr these guys, there's really not all that much they can do. ♪ >> smith: nso did not comment on assiri's case but told us it

does not tolerate misuse of its software or permit it to be used for spyingn critics or journalists. ♪ khashoggi had not been able to work for months.s. he c travel, but he was still banned from writing, tweeting, or appearing on tv. >> he was still hoping that this decree or ordewill be reversed. line for a while, then they the change." then i see him later, and still the order has not been chaed. i remember him saying, you know, "i have to do something about is. me being at home, not being able to, you know, tweet, write, especially write, is-is-is no longer bearable." ♪

>> what has been described as a coordinated crackdown on dissent in the country. >> saudi authorities havet carried rests of over 40 critics... >> more than a dozen prominentnt women'activists were arrested. >> smith: then, in september 2017, mohammed binalman's purges began. >> they arrested a huge number of liberal-minded reformers. >> smith: dozens of men and women-- writers, academics,ss busiople, and an economist-- were rounded up. >> the crown prince is clear. anybody who goes against him, they're in trouble >> smith: essaal-zamil had>> just returned from the u.s., where he had bn partadf an official saudi delegation. >> smith: but in a series of cast doubt on prince mohammed's valuation of a saudi aramco i.p.o.p. >> smith: that would lead his h arrest.

after a year in prison, he was uarged for "seeking to stge his twitter counkingdom through gi prominent res figures were also arrested. one of the most well-known was salman al awdah. among those outside of the offici cleril establishment, does anyone mpare to your father in terms of popularity? >> none whatsoever. i mean, he's being followed by 14 million followers. the king has six or seven million followers. >> smimi: at the t te of his arrest, the saudled boycott ofta was in its third month. expressed hope that the two leaders-- mbs and the emir of qata- could be reconciled. >> he was just praying. p and they said literally to him, treason." in this crisis is ♪

>> smith: that led to his arrest, in fact? f >> yeah. that's why they are seeking deatpenaltdeagait him righ now. for mohammed bin salman, these are threats his absolute authority.y. ♪ >> smith: al-awdah was charged with a total of 37 offenses, including "spreading discord and inciting against the ruler." >> he was probably the foremos figure in saudi arabia associated with a kind of religious-reform current that leanededowards democracy. so whatever the kingdom says they've arrested him for, they really arrested him for beingm salman al-awdah. >> smith: tell me how your father was treated when he was arrested. >> he was treated really, really badly. ♪ li he wasfolded, handcuffed all the time, even in the cell.

chains were put on his feet. he was interasgated for days, continuously, without allowing m to sleep. ♪ >> smith: as reports of the arrests appeared, jamal khashoi's name began surfacing in articles. editor at "the washington st" took notice. >> we were hearing the rephets about the crackdown. and i saw jamal khashoggi's name being quoted a few pieces aboutu e ion. and i just figured, "well, why not reach out to him?"im and so i gave him a call. ♪ >> smith: khashoggi had recently left saudi arabia. when he'd settled in d d i sat down to talk with him.

before all our camerasasere rolling, he spoke personally for a moment. he told me he was uncertain about what he wod do here. >> smi: muzzled. >> smith: soon after, khashoggi decided at to do. he published his first column in "the washington post." "saudi arabiauwasn't always this repressive. now it's unbearable." >> he was upset when salman dah was arrested.awda he was upset when other activists was arrested. and he kept saying, "these are moderate people. these are not the extremists. and they are arrtinghe moderate people. ♪ >> i think he was in some ways confused about the situation.

i mean, he really supported the vision of reforms that mohammed bin sman had. , i me was a very personal essa you see that he was estling with his decion to speak out or not. and we deced to translate it into arabic, so thateople in the whole arab world could read it.: >> smid you recognize at that point that there was any danger in this for him? >> mortal danger? personal sacrifice yes, of course. ♪ >> smith: en came nomber. first, the prime minister of lebanon, saad hariri, was ordered to come to riyadh. >> he was asked to come to the

palace for a meeting, and he was taken away, put in a room. >> smith: he's handcuffed, he's... >> he's slapped, he's maltreated. >> smiththe saudis charged that hariri had not done enough lebanon.er iranian influence in p >> smith: he w on a saudi tv channel, reading a resignation letter. >> a truly remarkable event.bl prime minister hariri is essentially ordered-- more or less at gunpoint-- to give up his job. >> smith: he said he was resigning because iran was fomenting "discord aco and destruction in theegion." >> the kind of aggressive tone i against irnosomething that hariri has endorsed or will endorse. foand so they knew it was ed resignation. >> smith: he was eventually

released and wou rescind his resignation. but there was more. >> mohammed bin salman is flexing hipolitical muscle in ways not seen before... >> smith: on the very same day hariri was detained, mbs began roundingp 200 of the kingd's richest businessmen and st powerful princes. >> these are incredible times in saudi arabia. reportedly held here, riyadh's glamorous ritz-carlton. >> .es .cially the older guard, are extremely worried by these changes... t ritz was in essence the big bang. it broug in a massive number of people. they were presented with very detailed files of their financial shenanigans.ans. and were in essence told, "youed o repay what you have taken from the kinom by exploiting your sition or your conttsts >> smith: and if they pushed back or they refused to pay, t what was the consequence? >> they didn't leave.

>> i have a personal friend who was arrested. >> smith: who was that? but i mean, he-he-he wenthim, through in detail. he was broughto the ritz at 4:00 a.m. in torning. ♪ he said it was extremely well-orgized. they checked him in, gave him a medical test, asked him if he had any medicines at he needed, and then gave him a room... where the do had to be kept open, but he had full access to room service and a tv. and he was interrogated, i think, for aonth. ♪ and then he wareleased. now, i don't know if he seseledi an, but by standards, frankly, i would have rather been arrested like him thabe arrested in a jail in america. ♪ >> they say it's all about corruption. i really don believe that. there are others who are whispering about wheuter this it

real about a consolidation o power.ti >> smith: corr was pervasive in the kingdom. how can you describeevel of corruption that you were facing, that you were confronted with? how do you make the point? >> it was so bad that it was actually trulympacting the development -of the country. we're talking aboubillions and billns and billions of dollars. and when we looked at all the various options, this was probably the best option avaiaible. wait perfect? absolutely not. ♪ >> smith: miesident trump condoned the round-up. ♪kh but for jamahoggi, it wasn't just about corruption. "what is absolelclear after saturday's 'night of the long knives' is that crown prince mohammed bin salman is

centrazing all power within his position as crow aprin." >> e likened mbs to putin. just saw ththgs gting worse and worse and worse. >> smith: he was very upset by the events at the ritz-carlton. >> and especially by wt haened to waleed bin talal smith: al-waleed bin talal, a longtime friend and supporter of khashoggi's, and saudi araa's most famous vestor. >> jamal khashoggi's feeling wag as he would refer to mbs, "if this kid was able to go that far and arrest somebody like waleed han tala you know, then there are bounds tohe'soing to do to people like him." ♪ >> smith: but it would take time for the re of e world to understa the ritz-carlton purge khashoggi had. prince al-waleed was held for 83

days. >> what was it like, your royal highness, being heldve by your own csin? >> frankly speaking, it was not easy, you know, i have to confess that, to be held against your will. >> how would you describe your relationship?o >>e believe it. my relationship right now with prince mohammed bin salman, thin guy, is no as strong as before-- stron sr. and this is shocking to many people. >> you've forgiven him? >> i didn't say forgiven. i forgot a for fven the whole process completely, it's behind me, completely. completely. >> reports of the ritz indicate that the saudi government tortured detaies, and coerced...mi >> sth: but as other people were released, reports of abuse and torture seeped out to the press. >> nmates required to sign over their fortunes in order to be released. >> smithfamily members of detainees have told reporters al-qahtani, acted as theird

interrogator. >>hat's been pretty clear that he played a principal role in the ritz-carlton being turned into this gold-plated pron. there were gradations of treatmt, and the dea of at least one person in custody, a general, the story was that he died of a heart attack. but according to family members, he had been beatene severely. ♪ >> smiththere were reports o harstrtment, beatings and even death- >> i heard those reports, but i've never seen any-anyec reon of that. >> smith: you have no suspicion about beings? none atsoever, none whatsoever. and the fact that-that these people were put up in-in-in the ritz-carlton, to me indicates that the intention is-is not n to... (laus) ...to inflict physical or emotional harm on themthbut rather to get to the truth.

>> smith: do you believe anybody was coerced physically at the ritz-carlton? >> i don't know. >> smith: it's possible. >> anything is possible. all i can say is that the exercise was to bring in vy senior members othe saudi financial, business community and say, "you have money which don't belo to you. it belongs to thsaudi people. we would like that bat now go out and live your life e way you did previously." ♪ >> smith: easier said than doneu >>now now, ministers and princeand big businesspeople are locked up. even once they're let out, i'mt toast, most of them have ankle bracelets, they cannot fly. they have been publicly humiliated and put under ♪onstant observation. >> smith: just after the ritz-carlton arrests, i hadrr asked mbs again to sn

for an interview. ♪ meanwhile, mbs's war in yemenn had gone from bato worse.ne f in novemovr 2017, after a houthi missile landed near riyadh, the saudis imposed a blockade, making it impossible for food or fuel to get through. two thirds of the country's population was already facing food shortes. hospitals were ovevehelmed with an outbreak of cholera. ♪ y (bying distantly) after international pressure, the saudis eased the blockade. but civilian casualties from air

attacks and land mines continued to mount (translator): >> smith: spokesman for the saudi-led campaign in yen,me major neral ahmed al-asiri. >> let me tell you something. when you conduon military operatn, mistake could happen. and there is no single allegation we does not investigate. >> smi: dodoou have a count of the number of civilian deaths that have resulted from your operations? edhow many civilians have s a result? >> no, we don't have numbers of civilian death of, cause of the... the yemeni government have this. >> smith: okay, what was their as tnumber? >> ask the yemeni government. >> smith: by the end of 2017, thousands of civilians had already been killed, many more wound. (shouting playfully)ayfull ♪ ♪ usic playing on spear)

despite the ring death toll, when prince mohammed arrived at the white house a few months ter, president trump was pushing him to buy more weapons. >> we make the best military product in the world, whetherle it's misor planes,r anything else, there's nobody that even comes close.of been approved and are currently under constructins andbe delivered to stodi arabia ve soon, d that's for their protection but if you look in terms of b dollars-- lion, --33 million, $5 milli that's peanuts forldou, shave increased it. $880... ♪ >> smith: the visit was the beginning of a nearly three-week tour othe u.s. even with his purges and the war in yemen, prince mohammed's popularity as a reformer was reaching its peak. o> you'll remember he came the unit states and was

lauded, literally from coast to coast. >> he will have visited five states, four presidents, five newspape, uncounted moguls,an d oprah. >> he was praised as a revolutionary, as the saudi reformer, as t head of what would be the saudi spring. >> america, should the world buy what the crown prince isse ing? >> he seems to be sincere. >> it was a major pr oration. part of that operation was wall street titans, silicon valley, and hollywood. >> the tech people, the movie tc people, theieieyes were quiteng glitte there was is newpeniew of people who hadn't made money there before. >> people were mesmerized. >> you did have is sit-down with mbs. >> notable journalists in the u.s. thomas friedman, has actuallyem aced him big-time. >> he'not just leading this from the top down, whoa!ex itoding from the bottom .

>> smith: he also made a point of mting with jewish-americaith groups in new york. >> to win thsupport of jish leadership, he needed to say somethg different about israel and about the palestinians. and he did. >> the crown prie says that israelis should have the rig r to their own land, this will b b e prelude of a new era, a new arabia and israel.en saudi >> smith: he also granted his first ever american tv interview to "60 minutes >> his reforms inside saudi arabia have en revolutnary. >> smith: mbs brought his mediai visor alon him, saud al-qahtani. >> are women equal to men? >> (translated): absolutely, we are all human beings, and there's no difference. >> he's pushing through reformsh the expanded freedoms including those of women, 's a aerce opponent of iran... >> he said, "wom equal to a men. we're going to lift the women driving ban.e weing to allow more women in leadership position."

so he's saying all theight things. but you can only dec dve people that far. >> smith: shory after his return hom thean against women driving was due to be lifted.ct one of theists who had campaigned for it was loujan al-hathloul.ou (speaking arabic): >>mith: she made headlinesn 2014 when she posted a vid of herself driving from the u.a.e. to saudi arabia. >> smith: she was arrested and3 held forys in a saudi jail and then released. but as saudi womenaited for the driving bato end, the royal court ordered loujan to be rearrested along with other prominent women's rights activists.vi ♪ >> we are very much concned about whats going in saudi arabia right now.

>> security forces sweptp one of the kingdom'sarly feminists, but it has come at the cost... >> i think mohmed bin salman realized that the women'sme mo in saudi arabia is nono simply about driving, it's aboup rights. and they were not going to stop at driving a car.sy the car was ol of theirf oppression. th >> swe spoke to loujan al-hathloul's sister from her home outside s arabia. >> when learned that loujan was arrested, i was so scared. ♪ was in the middle of the day. ♪ five mennd five women came. they were blocking the street, so all neighbors witnessed what happened. ♪ my parents, they wer wextremely panicked. my mom said, "why you are

arresting my daughtewe but they just nt up, and theybu grab her from her bedroom, they-they took her. ♪ >> smith: the r arrests im werearly staged. >> they are telling the women a message, that, "you should not ask for more rights." >> when they went to hatoon al-fassi's house, they brought klieg lightsnd lit up the neighbhood. and they did it in front of her children. they don't, th don't do that. jamal was thone who showed me the udi newspaper that has a of their faces and, "traitor, fc traitor, traitor." i mean, i cannot tell you how shocking that was. ♪ st >> smith: at l2 women dme threremen were arrested because of their activism.

human rights groups believe the number to much higher. khashoggi wrote, "repression and intimidation are not-- and never should be-- the acceptable he urged mbs to "order the release of hathloul... and the otr women who campaigned f women's right drive." ♪ but they were not released. hathloul's parents were not allowed to start visiting herti months later. >> my mom and my father went to jeddah. they took the ple to visit loujan at dhahban prison. ♪ when they saw her, she was weak, very weak. and there was red marks er her face. they asked her, "did they torture you?"sa and sh... she said, "no,

i am fine, you know. don't worry about me." and they insisted.d ter that, she just start crying, crying, crying. she couldn't stop.an moment she stopped, she start breathin and shanshowed them her thighs.e and it was not only bruises. it was burned.ne it was so dark. ♪ and she said, "they were going to tow me in the sage system." and they were repeating this to her. she thoughshe was going to die. and during the torture session,

she recognized specifically one n. and he is a highly rankedan advisor. >> smith: who was that? >> his name is known every kere. it was sd al-qahtani. ♪ >> smith: some of the other women arrested also endured torture-- samar badawi, aziza al-yousef, eman al-nafjan, shadan al-onezi, and nouf al-dosar there are also reports of sexual harassment and assault. details were sent by multiple sources to hum rights groups outside saudi arabia. >> the statement that we got from many of the s srces, that all of the women were tortured. and placed, of course, i solitary confinefint. kewomen would be strped and assaulted sexually.

they would be beaten electrocuted. to see those women who have for years been really a source ofce strength for other women, to see them treated this way, for m i know these women. i know how dignified, how carini and concerned about their country they are. the is no other way, excep at they want to put them into a position where they're completely bken and silenc. ♪ (car horns honking) >> smith: qaht>>i has notqa commented on any torture allegations. her torture to offof theheeport saudi human rights commission who had visited her in pson. >> the human rights commission visiteher.d and she said, "are y y going to protect me?" because she gave them the name of saud al-qahtani, anshe is so scared of that. they said, "of course can't." >>mith: we cannot.

>> "we canno no, of course we cannot." >> sth: tried to call the human rights commission to get a comment.ey idn't respond. we decided to just go over to there. (smith speakinabic): >> no. (smith): (men speaking arabic)ok ? i was ushered into what i hoped was dr. aiban's office. he heads the human rits commission. (phone ringing distantly)) they don't know k to do with us. hello.

>> sabah al-noor. >> smith: fifilly, i was greetes by a ttor, aziz, and an office assistant. >> smith: as you know, there's ts of controversy right now about the handling of isoners, and we wand to ask questions about the conditions in the prisons, about the conditionsdii for the women particularly. >> smith: okay, is he here? l smith: he's trying g c him. why is it so difficult to tt an appointment to see dr. aiban? >> smith: despite it being a workday, i got nowhere. (man speaking arabic) (assistant speaking arabic): >> smith: good luck to you. (aziz speaking arabic) ♪

(smith): i never received a call back. but i kept trying. (phone ringing) hello, hello? yeah. i am looking to speak with dr. aiban. (saking arabic)ar dr. aiban. number is wrong? okay, thank you. >> smith: yes, hi, i want to speak with dr. aiban. (phone hangs up) ♪ i also tried to contact th public prosecutor and the minister of justice. by the time i spoke to foreign minister adel al-jubeir, eightnt h gone by since al-hathloul and the other women were arrested. >> we refuse the charge of torture. i don't believe that's the case. the prosecutor has said is. and i think the procedures, legal proceduresn saudiha arabia to play out. >> smith: they've been held wiout trial. >> we, they wille going through the courts. they are not activists. there's evidence of links to

forefon entities. tithere's evidence of atte to recruit people in sensitive positions. >> smith: that's the charge, but that hasn't been proven. >> it will be proven in court. >> smith: whdo you hold responsible for what's happened to your sister? >> good question. i have some idea, but i don't know if i can share it. every time i talk, every time i accept to be intviewed, i have to see if ere are consequences on me, on sister, my family. saudi arabia was never a democracy. however,vet was ner,r a police state. ani feel it's becoming kin of a police state, unfortunately. >> the saudi government never went after family members.

now the system is actuallyol engaged inive forms of punishment. >> smith: in dc, khashoggi w also feeling the wrath of mbs.hi son, salah, the only one of his children still in saudill arabia, had been forbidden to travel. >> one of the first things he said to me is, "they've put my son on a travel ban. and it's just not fair.fa 's not political at all. and there's nothing i can do about it." hatand my understanding is he sent a message to saud is-qahtani, telling him, " has come to very low standards that you are now goingfter my son." but he received no response from saud al-qahtani. fo smith: his wife, fearin her and her fafaly's safety, asked for a divorce. >> and that was, that was extremely painful to him. >> smith: jamal waalso being rassed on twitter by qahtani's notorious army of flies.

>> wt we talked about is, di i know anybody at twitter to turn it off. ♪ as ithe bots, the army, the flies. >> i can say that there was certainly a sense ofnimus towards jamal khashoggi because of his unrelenting criticism of the kingdoin a national newspaper inhe capital of th saudis' closest partner. >> and i thi mbs felt genuinely threatened about this "washington post"-supported journalist who was criticizing mbs himself, personally. to >> he talked about the kind of threats he was getting. but he was also heartened by getting from saudiever f was t, and people reaching out to him and saying, "yes, you ar doing the right thing, yes, you are speaking on all behalf. thank you for doing what you >> smith: and he had, with time,

found a new ve, someone who sharedis interest in arab urursh academic, tice cengiz. >> when i saw him the last time, he was happy.he aid, "well, i'm thinking i'm going to spend more time innd turkey now." >> smith: and he kept writing about the prince he had once supported. >> i think his ultimate desire was to see hiseople enjojoso of the same freedoms that he han here in washinin the u.s. u >> smith: he smitted his last article on september 28, 2018. >> over time, i think jamal felt more and more at independent journalism was the way to achieve what he'd wanted since he was a yng man. george orwell gave as a title a column that hote, "as i please," y y know, "ii write as i please." jamal khashoggi was a version

of that.eb he was sy who wrote what he thought, wrote whe he believed. ♪ >> smith: do you think jamal had any idea that he was playing with fire?t >> i think tmal hadn't fully realized h different the system had become. think that he thought that this was a regime that didn't aw blood unnecessarily, that did not kill dissidents overseas. and i think heas w wng. he misjudged how thihad changed. ♪ >> he was >>st seen in istanbul. angela, where do you think he's >> well, this is the question that everybody is asking. jamal khashoggi, he went missing on tuesday, he went to the consulate building of saudi arabia in istanbul. >> speaking on turkish tv, ms. cengiz explained that he was going to the consulate to

collect documents for the marriage, and for that she felt guilty... >> smith: the murder took place october 2. four days later, the saudi consul generer gave a report a tour of the conse. the saudis' story was that khashoggi had walk out of theth dinglive. (consul speaking arabic): >> smith: the saudis were saying he had gone missing somewhere in turkey. turkish officials were furious. >> they're like, inste i of their providing answers to us, they're actually slying that, "oh, it's your problem now. he's missing in turkey." that was the tippi point for

turkish officials. >> smith: at the pro-government turkish newspaper, "sabah," reporters started getting details from turkish intelligence and the police. nazif karaman. (speaking turkish): ♪ >> sth: by the time thes repod learned d out the two saudi planes, the jets had left istanbul. then ty were told more. durrahman msek. (speaking turkish):

>> smith: yasin aktay, advisor to turkey's president erdogan, heard details of the murder. when you learned that the police had concncded that he had beener mu, can you describe that ment? >> that moment was very, very difficult for me. they said me, "they're, they're animals, they are animals. they're, they're worse than animals. they-they killed him like dogs, and they, he was crying." and i, ii,-i cried. >> i just couldn't come tomy lf for a couple of minutes. i just couldn't believe the fact that they t him into pieces. (horn honks) >> smithi texted mbs. there was no response. i tried again. ♪

did u know jam khashoggi? >> yes.es k i'wn him since the late '80s. >> smith: and what kind of man was he? >> he was a journalist, he was an editor, he was a kind per n. and he was... he had family, he had children. >> smith: and what happened to him? >> he was murdered in the saudi consulate iste bul in what isha a huge mistake that has shocked the whole country, and that wess havevexp our commitment to hold those accountad e and to make sure, work on m procedures to reform the secuty services so that we minimize the occurrence of such ♪ agic mistake in the future. >> smith: jubeir says they are committed to investigati what happenedpp but from the beginning, theri

saudis to cover it up. >> the saudi sry kept changing over the coursof twoeeks. inconsistencies were really clear. >> this is one of the most peculiar, perplexing news events that i canecall in some ti. >> the evidence keeps building. newly released video shows a saudi man who looks a ttle like khashgi... >> here's, he's caught on cctv arriving at the consulate, wearing... smith: surveillance footage showed how the team initially i ied to fool ooe police into believing khashoft the consulate alive. >> he walks outside, in >> smith: but the liced glasses. immediatelmeotted what was a body double. >> same clothes, same glasses, same beard bsame age and build. everything but thehoes. di >> smith: whthe double not take khashoggi's shoes?? but he couldn't...es, actual >> smith: ey wouldn't fit? >> yeah, and head of the istanbul police, he realized

that the-the, you owshoes is different. >> smith: the saudis had clung h to the lie that khashoggi was alive. >> it's more drip-fed, uncorroboratable intelligence that's sent riyadh into a nic. >> smith: then turkish intelligence revealed they had audio tas. >> ...turkish and u.s. officials sayssahe recordings offer proof khashoggi was interrogated, tortured, and murdered. >>mith: the detas reveal were gesome. the audio was not released to the public. but some reporrs learned about its ntents. >> to be honest, i don't think it's something that hauld really be shared wi the public, because it just involves so much violence, en though it's just a auo recording. (simsek):

>> have you heard that tape? and does it conclusively point to the crown princncas ordering the killing of jamal khashoggi? >> no, i haven't listened to it. do you think i should.sk you why what do you think i'll learn from it? unless you speak arabic, what e you going to get from it? >> smithwithin a week,ee national security advisor john bolton and jared kushner had called riyadh. soon after secretary ofpe

state mike pflewflo saudi arabia to meet with the crown prin ♪ meanwhile, the case for prince mohammed's involvement was tightening. >> after weeks of denials, saudi arabia is changing its tune. >> saudi arabia now going furtr, admitting that the enkilling looks to have be premited. >> these w we not low-ranking figures, so they couldn't have ne what they did oblivious to the prince, could they? >> smith: the turkish media had who flew into ista the saudis >> who are these people who are on this 15-man team, one of whom is a forensics, autopsy expert? >> smith: five of them are reported to have worked under mbs's aide saud al-qahtani at the royal court. and one key team member was on security detail-- the alleged

ringlead on the ground, maher treb. >> one man, maher mutreb, he's been seen traveling with the crown prince all over rld,th >> after the murder, the saudis called mbs's private office.ce it's incable that mohammed bin salman didn't know. ♪ >> smith: you went on october 21, anyou said that none of those involved in khashoggi's death had close ties to saudi crown prince mohammed bin salman. >> because he has, prince... ese were security individuals. security people have rotations,h sometimes serve for security or other .erms of >> smith: but these weren't just serity individuals. mutreb, who traveledsivelyeb with the crown prince, including in the united stateson the scene. are you saying tt you didn't know that e people that were pvolved in the murder were close to the cronce at the

time that you said that? >> they... the crown prince has a lot of people who are close to him.or who claim to be close t he has a lot of people who take thr pictures with him... >> smith: then i asked abo qahtani. qahtani allegedly ran the operation from outside turkey.op >> smith: qahtani wasn't just one of a lot of people. >> look, this is..you're asking all the questions... >> smith: he's, he was a close aide to the crowprince. where is he now? >> you should ask the public prosecutor. >> smith: ththpublic prosecutor wolk to us. >> then, then you should callag hin. ♪ >> smith: how is it possibw that mohmed bin salman dsaot know of this operation? >> well, i have stated that i v believe ity unlikely he did not know of at least a renditn. i can easily imagine that the decision-making might've been as simple as saud al-qahtani saying, "we have this dissident. we will conduct a renditioa

eration from istanbul," and being told, "go ahead." >> smith: so you have contacts within saudi arabia at high levels that tell you that this was a rendition?n? >> yes. ♪ >> smith: but the saudis insist mbs gave nsuch authorization. they say it s a rogue operation. you're saying that this is beinb investigatthe public prosecutor? >> yes. >> smith: but at the same ti, you have declared it a rogue r operation. so you've reached a conclusion that this was a rogue ion before the investigation is complete? >> ocourse it's a rogueat opn. nobody authorized this. o would authorize the murder of a citizen... >> smith: how do we know until there is an investigation?t ion? >> it se me that you have made up your minbefore you watched thdue proces.. >> smith: no, you've made up your mind that it's a rogue operation. >> it is, it is a roguebe operatiouse there is no authorization for them to commit this crime. there was no authorization for them tcommit this crime.mmit that's why it's a rogue operation. >> smith: how do we know thakn you say it's a rogue operation.

>> uh, because, because our leadership says it was a rogue operation, and our leadership has not lied to us before. so we believe them. >> smith: there were a series ot ements made immediately after the killing of jamal khashoggi thatave proven to be false, that have proven to be lies. >> that were based on rerting by this rogue element. and they're going to be taken tr and face their-their fate. ♪ >> smith: the saudis have e en unclear about who authorized the operation. but they have said one man, general ahmed al-asirithe s formkesman for mbs' war in men, as involved in the planning. >> smith: you know general asiri. >> yes. >> smith: do you think he's in any way capable of mounting an operation like thi >> on his own? absolutely not. he wouldn't dream up a plot like this. used to ta tng ordof the state, it's just not in the nature of how the udi bureaucracy works.

they got caught red-handed. they attempted to come up with a cover story.st but e covey doesn't add up. >> it was carried out poorly, and the cover-up was one of thes woin the history of cover-ups. >> smith: there are so many holes in your story, the story that you put out thereev ited president in the states said, "this is the worst cover-up i've ever seen." with all due respect, we-we put out the stories as we have it, based on the facts that were established. we have never, in the history ot saudi arabia, had a ion where a saudi citizen was murdered. this is not how we operate, and this is not what our values are. >> smith: is there anything about is young princthat worries you? >> you kw what my only wry is? i reached an age where i don't know if i'll be around when the

fruits of what is happening in saudi arabia will be picd. because i see the kingdom movine in-in , very straight way towards the wellbeing of of-of saudis and hopefully the wellbeing of the world. ♪ ha smith: on november 16, the: c.i.a. concludedprince mohammed ordered the murder of khashoggi. they rused to comment publicly about it. but secretary of state mikeofar poeo did. >> i've read every piece ofle intelligence it's come in the last few hours. there is no direct reporting connecting the crown prince to the order to murder jamal ashoggi. and that's all i can say in an unclassifietting >> smith: but immediately after pompeo's comments, someone leaked a summary of the report to a "wall street journal" reporter, warren strobel yeah, i've got it right here. you're the only reporter that i'm aware of that has seen that

c.i.a. report. >> i believe i am the only reporter even to this day who has seen the c.i.a. report. >> sth: why were you shown this report? >> i don't know, to this day. i can only spelate. analysis is that this person s upset that the intelligenc was beg portrayed differently byhe president orethe unitnt eates and secretary of st mike pompeo. things, and in pointing outn those thgs, you can conclude that maybe he did or maybe he didn't. but there's...hat was another part of the false reporting. >> president trump and secretary of state me pompeo over and over have pointed to the fact have evidence of aorder.oes noth but they sort of stop there. d if you actually read t c.i.a. assessment, ai have, everything else in that points h finger acrown prince as having a role. >> the c.i.a. has look at it, they've studied it a lot, they have nothi definitive. we are with saudi arabia. rawe're stayayg with saudia. have a good time, everybody, thank you. >> the predent here is

positioning himself to be able to not take tougher measures against saudi arabia... >> trump's respoe is a slap in the face to the intelligence community. ♪ >> smith: and there was more. it was reported that on the day of the muer, maher mutreb made a call. he said, in effect, "tell your boss the deed was done." >> t phone number that wasbe g called in riyadh washe crown prince's office. doesn't get much better than that. if you cl the white house situation room, i come to the conclusion the white house knows what's going on. >> smith: last dember i talked to prince mohammed at the race track. he spoke about his role in the khashoggi murder for the first time. my camera was outside, but he said: "it happened under my watch.

i get all thl responsibility, because it happened under my watch. i really take it very seriously i don't want to tell youte 'no i didn't do it or i d do it', or whatever. that's just words." i asked him how it could happen without him knowing about it. "accidents happen. can you imagine? weave twenty million peopl we have three million government employees, i am not google, orpu a supercr to watch over three million."ioio "they can take one of your anes?" i asked. "i have officials, ministers to follow things, and they're responsible, they have the authority to do that." "but during it, qahtani is teing you. right?" i asked. "yeah he textse every day." i was curious about those texts. they had been cited in the c.i.a. report linking mbs to the killing of khashoggi.♪

♪ mbs insisted they were innocent. latei learned that the saudis had hired a business intelligence firm, kroll, to examine the texts. mbs wanted to share them with the c.i.a. i was allowed to look at kroll'h report in wagton. the texts don't refer to khashoggi or say anything about a kidnapping or a murder. but then the nsa discoveved they had some damning evidence all along. they jt di't realize i >> after khashoggi's killed, the ited states intelligence community starts looking that they had picked up ovcepts years. s smith: and they find mb>> chatting with qahtani back in 2017. >> mohammed n salman is expressing frustration and annoyancabout khashoggi,

influential.becoming mores be >> smith: qahtani cautioned prince mohammed that any move against khashoggi was risky and uproar.reate an international mbs scolded qahtani for being too toious.to and then... >> there's a conversation betweemohammed bin salman and other influential advisor, and prince mohammed says, "if we can't bring jamal back by force, we shld show him a bullet." >> thank you for waiting. saudia flight... with service to riyadh like to continue boarding with all passengers sitting in rows two, three, and four.hr >> smith: i returned to saudi arabia one last time in april 2019. e crown prince had promid to meet with me again. i came prepared with many more questions. ♪

when i arrived, he changed his mi i was not able to ask any more questions about the khashoggi murder. but more evidence kept on coming. in june, agnes callamarda united natio human rightsht expert, issued the most detailed report to date on the khashoggi killing. i saw her in london at ace confer >> ...killinof mr. khashoggi, 15 agent flew to turkey, eight ofhem in a private jet whichad diplomatic clearance, two of them had diplomatic ssports. there is no other conccosion but that the killing of mr. khashoggi is a state killi. it should be seen to constitute an international crime for which >> smith: in preparing httract.c

report, callamard was granted access to the audio recordingsgs of the hit team as they discussesetheir plans. within the premise of thewi turkish intelligence. >> smith: and you heard a conversatiti. tell us about that conversation. >> so that conversation is within an hour before thell g. mutreb is asking wheth or not the trunk of the body will fit into a normal bag."d s it need a stronger bag? how do you disjoint a body?"oo thats being discussed. tubaigy, the doctor, raises some on the ground, because he'scut never done that. they are seemingly rehearsing, planning, the act of killing an hour later. >> five months since the horrible murder... >> smith: at the london conference, callamard joined khashoggi's fiancée hers

calling for r report to spur further tion. >> i would like to ask you all to use this report as a ans to prevent an a aempt to silence us or push the matter under tma carpet. >> this is about the freedom of people to say what they want, to tweet what they want, to blog what they want, to speak about what thewant without fear that they will be executed for it. >> t t fact th the killing of jamal khashoggis still making s the news, that needs to continuentbecause that's what is going to annoy the hell out ofth and be the mosquito in the te that they can't eveget rid of. >> thank you very much, agnes, thank you. (appuse)

♪ th >>to date, mbs has offered no apology for the killing in khashoggi, and he jill insists those responsible will be brought tice for what he called a heinous crime. in the meantime, he continues to pursue his vision 30. ("feel so close" by calvin harris playing) j talking indistinctly) >> here we go, one, two, two, three, go! ! >> smith: with sporting eventsd ang concerts, he is trying to win the hearts of young saudis. (pop music playing, concertgoers singing along) his defenders say that the khashoggi murder and h campaign against dsent should not outweigh everything else he has acaceved.

(pop music playing, cheering) (music continues, cheering) ♪ ♪

aderhe philippine leader has faced harsh criticrsm for launching a bloody drug war. thousandndof people have been killed in the brutal crackdcrn. >>y campaign against drugs... (screaming) ...will not stop...l no (laughing)il ...unthe lt pusher... (shouting) ...and the last drug lord ar- (throat cutting noise) >> go to pbs.org/frontline for flections on jamalgg khasfrom friends and colleagues. >> i think his ultimate desire was to see his people h h enjoy some of the same freedoms thate had here in the u.s.

>> see a timeline of mbs' rise to powd our rererting on tensions in the region. >> connect to the frontline twitter, and watch ok and the pbs video app or pbs.org/frontlin >> froline is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. and by the corporation for public broadcasting. major support is provided by the john d. ancatherine t. macarthur foundation, committed to building ldmore just, verdant and peaceful world. more information at macfound.org. the ford foundation: working with visionaries on the frontlines of social chae worldwide. additional support is provided by the abrams foundation, committed to excellence inxc journalism.ur the park foundation, dedicated to heightening publici awareness ofcal issues. the john and helen glessner family trust. supporting trustworthy djournalism that informs inspires. and by the

frontle journalism fund, with major support from jon and jo ann hagler. and additional support from chris and lisa kaneb. captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org t >> for more s and other "frontline" programs, visit our website at pbs.orgrontline. ♪ to order frontline's, "the crown prince" on dvd, visit shoppbs or call 1-800-play-pbs. this program is also available on amazon prime video. ♪

♪ you're watching pbs. ♪ ♪ -you've said you'd favor middle-class tax c ts. -the front line is just up here. that's where the river... -she took me out to those wetlands. -i tnk we're off to a great start. ♪

male reporter: fidel castro could legitimately be regarded o as either a heroas a tyrant or as both at the same time. tro rose to power in cuba. man: commander castro, why are you leading a revolution? narrator: he has been one of f the most controversialures in the worldr since... narrator: a political thorn in the side of the united states. james c. hagerty: our sympathy goes out to the people of cuba now suffering under the yolk of a dictatorin narrator: this is castro's story told through media reports... role announcer: fidel cast "face the nation." narrator: rare images... anrdings. tr male reporter: fidel c believed the cia