Washington Post publishes column from missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi

The Washington Post has published the last column submitted by missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was allegedly killed at the Saudi Arabia consulate in Istanbul last week.

The editor's note on the column says the Post received the article from Mr Khashoggi's assistant the day after he was missing, and held off publishing it until now in the hope he would return.

It decided to publish the piece after acknowledging that Mr Khashoggi would not return safely.

The column presents a strong criticism of press freedom in the Arab nations, with Mr Khashoggi says leave citizens "either uninformed or misinformed".

"Arab governments have been given free rein to continue silencing the media at an increasing rate," Mr Khashoggi writes.

"There was a time when journalists believed the internet would liberate information from the censorship and control associated with print media.

"But these governments, whose very existence relies on the control of information, have aggressively blocked the Internet."

Mr Khashoggi claims the Arab world is "facing its own version of the Iron Curtain" and concludes that Arab people need a platform for their voices.

"We suffer from poverty, mismanagement and poor education," Mr Khashoggi writes.

"Through the creation of an independent international forum, isolated from the influence of nationalist governments spreading hate through propaganda, ordinary people in the Arab world would be able to address the structural problems their societies face."

Newshub.