Time magazine names Khashoggi 'person of the year'

Time magazine has named Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi dissident journalist killed in the kingdom's diplomatic mission in Istanbul in October, as its "Person of the Year" for 2018.

The news magazine on Tuesday gave the annual designation, which goes to the person they judge has been the most influential over the past year, to "the Guardians and the War on Truth."

Time said Khashoggi had "dared to disagree with his country's government," adding that, "He told the world the truth about its brutality toward those who would speak out. And he was murdered for it."

Khashoggi, a prominent critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and a Washington Post columnist, disappeared on October 2 after visiting the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to obtain documentation for his forthcoming marriage.

Saudi Arabia initially claimed he had left the consulate alive, but weeks later admitted that he was killed inside the diplomatic mission and blamed his death on a group of Saudi operatives.

Turkish leadership said the order to slay Khashoggi had been issued from "the highest levels" of the Saudi government, suggesting that the crown prince had ordered such a gruesome crime.

The CIA is said to have concluded that bin Salman had "probably ordered" the murder.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman sent at least 11 messages to his adviser, who oversaw the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, according to a classified CIA report.

US President Donald Trump has drawn criticism for his handling of Khashoggi's death after he failed to condemn the Saudi crown prince or issue harsher punishment toward the kingdom.

Alongside Khashoggi, Time also honored the journalists killed in the mass shooting at the Capital Gazette in Maryland in June, two Reuters reporters jailed in Myanmar after investigating the massacre of Rohingya Muslims and Maria Ressa, who runs an online news site in the Philippines.

"In its highest forms, influence - the measure that has for nine decades been the focus of Time's Person of the Year - derives from courage. Like all human gifts, courage comes to us at varying levels and at varying moments," Time magazine's editor-in-chief, Edward Felsenthal, wrote in an essay about the selection.

"This year we are recognizing four journalists and one news organization who have paid a terrible price to seize the challenge of this moment: Jamal Khashoggi, Maria Ressa, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo and the Capital Gazette of Annapolis, Md," he added.

Special counsel Robert Mueller has been chosen as Time magazine's third-place runner-up after Donald Trump -- a recognition of the significance of his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible collusion with the Trump campaign.

Time's Person of the Year recognizes "the person or group of people who most influenced the news and the world -- for better or for worse -- during the past year." Although Mueller rarely makes any public comments, his presence has loomed over American politics and foreign policy for the year.

Time, which originally launched the award in 1927, has chosen controversial winners, including Adolf Hitler in 1938 and Joseph Stalin in 1939 and 1942.

Last year, women who spearheaded the #MeToo movement were named Time's person of the year, while Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel took the title in 2016 and 2015 respectively.