Missing Saudi journalist in final column: Arab governments have been given 'free rein' to silence media

Missing Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi advocated for Arab nations to permit a free and frank press within their borders in what is likely his last column for the Washington Post.

“Arab governments have been given free rein to continue silencing the media at an increasing rate,” Khashoggi wrote in the piece published Wednesday evening. “These governments, whose very existence relies on the control of information, have aggressively blocked the Internet. They have also arrested local reporters and pressured advertisers to harm the revenue of specific publications.”