Prominent Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi resigned on Sunday from the helm of the al-Watan daily in a move believed linked to official displeasure with articles critical of the state’s harsh Islamic rules.
Al-Watan announced that Khashoggi, 52, was stepping down as editor-in-chief “to focus on his personal projects,” in a statement published on its Web site and in its Sunday edition.
The statement from Prince Bandar bin Khaled al-Faisal, chief executive of the company that owns al-Watan, praised Khashoggi as “a loyal son ... who left a clear mark on its progress.”
The resignation, which came hours after Khashoggi celebrated his third marriage on Saturday, was unexpected and Saudi journalists said they believed it was because of high-level government pressure.
Reached by telephone, Khashoggi said he “chose to resign for the better of al-Watan.”
It came three days after al-Watan published a controversial column by poet Ibrahim al-Almaee criticizing Salafism, which advocates returning to the fundamentals of Islam.
The article disputed Salafists’ rejection of popular religious traditions, such as patronizing shrines and graves of important Islamic figures.
Khashoggi was abroad when the article appeared and he said he disagreed with the decision to run the article.
“Al Watan should not have published this article,” he said. “It was a human error. He [the editor] did not realize what the article meant.”
The newspaper’s staff expressed shock at his resignation.
The resignation also followed a year of tensions with authorities and religious conservatives over articles and columns viewed as critical of the ultra-conservative Wahhabi Islam which dominates Saudi life.
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