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opefully, veteran journalist and outspoken critic of Saudi Arabia’s royal family, Jamal Khashoggi, is still alive. There is growing fear that the Washington Post opinion contributor has paid for his bravery to criticize his country’s ruler with his own life

Saudi’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman reportedly told Bloomberg News last week that Khashoggi had left the consulate shortly after he arrived there on Oct. 2, to process documents he needed to marry his Turkish fiancée. It is still unclear whether the former aide to Saudi’s intelligence chief and editor of the country’s official media left the consulate as a living person or as a corpse.

International media reports and Turkish government statements suggest he had been murdered inside the Saudi Arabia Consulate General in Istanbul on Oct. 2, and that his mutilated body reportedly had been flown out of Turkey.

If true, along with the detention of other journalists in the country, the death of the 59-year-old journalist would be even more devastating, not just for press freedom and freedom of expression but also damaging for the crown prince. His attempts at economic and social reform, by granting more freedom to women, have raised hope that Saudi Arabia will become a more open kingdom.

Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is calling for an independent international investigation into the plight of Khashoggi, who had been living in self-imposed exile in the United States since last year.

The RSF has also demanded a thorough investigation into the rape and murder of Bulgarian journalist Viktoria Marinova, whose body was found last Saturday. This year alone, the organization reported that 57 journalists and 10 citizen journalists had been killed because of their work.

There is little reason to be optimistic that the truth about Khashoggi will soon be determined and that justice will be upheld. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Saudi Arabia should prove its claim. ”He [Khashoggi] entered the consulate general himself and if he entered by himself and if he did not exit it, of course this should be proven by the consulate general,” Erdogan said.

US President Donald Trump has also vowed to uphold the truth. But knowing his dislike of journalists and the strategic importance of Saudi Arabia, Trump will not likely be serious.

Hopefully, Khashoggi is still alive and he is still able to voice his thoughts and views freely. If he has been killed, those responsible for his death should pay dearly for their cowardly act.