Jamal Khashoggi and other journalists honoured as Time's 'Person of the Year'

Time Magazine on Tuesday named Jamal Khashoggi and other journalists killed and imprisoned in 2018 as its "Person of the Year".

Described as the "guardians of the truth",  Khashoggi was recognised alongside Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, two Reuters journalists arrested in Myanmar after investigating a massacre against Rohingya Muslims; Maria Ressa, a Filipino journalist; and the journalists killed in a mass shooting at the Capital Gazette local newspaper in Maryland.

Writing about Khashoggi, Time Magazine said: "He told the world the truth about its brutality towards those who would speak out. And he was murdered for it.

"His death laid bare the true nature of a smiling prince, the utter absence of morality in the Saudi-US alliance and - in the cascade of news feeds and alerts, posts and shares and links - the centrality of the question Khashoggi was killed over: Whom do you trust to tell the story?"

Khashoggi, a Middle East Eye contributor and Washington Post columnist, was killed more than two months ago by a Saudi hit squad inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in an operation that is widely suspected to have been ordered by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Washington Post publisher Fred Ryan lauded the magazine's decision to honour journalists this year.

"We hope this recognition will prompt our nation’s leaders to stand up for America’s values and hold accountable those who attempt to silence journalists who cover our communities, or in Jamal’s case, an oppressive authoritarian government," Ryan said in a statement.

Saudi Arabia has denied that the crown prince was involved and has arrested 21 people in connection with the killing.

But the case has cast scrutiny on the close relationship with US President Donald Trump's administration and the Saudi crown prince, with some US senators briefed last week by CIA chief Gina Haspel declaring that they were certain that MBS had ordered the killing.