Assassinations Podcast

Part 1/3. In October, 2018, Jamal Khashoggi, a columnist for the Washington Post, was killed during a seemingly routine visit to a Saudi consulate. A prominent critic of the Saudi government, Khashoggi's death became a major news story that brought international attention to human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia and cast a pall over the kingdom's relations with the rest of the world. In this, the first installment of a three-part investigation, we find out about Khashoggi's complex relationship with the Saudi elite.To find out more about the people and music featured in today’s episode, visit the Assassinations Podcast website, www.AssassinationsPodcast.com. While there, you can also check out our Bookstore, where we recommend some great episode-related books and reading material, and shop our Merch Store to nab a log tee or tote bag.If you’d like to support the show, we have a Patreon page. We offer a variety of different support levels with lots of fun perks, including bonus episodes, a monthly livestream, stickers, merch store credit, and more! Find us at patreon.com/AssassinationsPodcast You can also interact with us on Twitter. You’ll find us @AssassinsPod.This episode featured ads for DreamCloud Luxury Mattresses and Free Your Tea, a premium loose leaf tea subscription. Get $200 off any size mattress by using code ASSASSINATIONS at www.DreamCloudSleep.com. And get 10% off your tea subscription by using code ASSASSINATIONS at www.FreeYourTea.com.Assassinations Podcast was created by Niall Cooper, who also researches and writes the show. Lindsey Morse is our editor and producer. Our theme music was created by Graeme Ronald. If you’d like to hear more from Graeme, check out his band Remember Remember. You’ll find them on iTunes.

Threats against journalists pose a threat to the democratic right of free speech. In the third season of our podcast, trailed here, we’ll look into cases of assassinations and alleged assassinations of journalists from around the world.

In the last episode of our second season, we re-examine the case of Alexander Litvinenko. A vocal critic of Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, he died of poisoning in London in 2006. It took the British ten years to release a report into his apparent assassination, which gathered a huge quantity of evidence relating to his death. However, the inquiry was riddled with inconsistencies— and it kept Litvinenko's relationship with British intelligence in the shadows.To find out more about the people and music featured in today’s episode, visit the Assassinations Podcast website.This episode features a promo for our friends over at Historical Blindness. Check out their show!Check out our new bookstore!Creator, Host, Writer, & Researcher: Niall CooperProducer, Editor, & Sound Designer: Lindsey MorseTheme Music: Graeme Ronald

Part 3/3. In the third and final part of our look at the case of Sergei Skripal & the Poisoned Perfume, we find out about recently made claims of a connection between the Salisbury poisonings and an alleged assassination attempt against a Bulgarian arms dealer. We wade through the informational battleground between Britain and Russia, where claims, counterclaims, propaganda, and "fake news" all compete - but where evidence can be hard to identify from disinformation. And we consider the most tragic aspect of the case - the fate of Dawn Sturgess.To find out more about the people and music featured in today’s episode, visit the Assassinations Podcast website.Check out our new bookstore!Creator, Host, Writer, & Researcher: Niall CooperProducer, Editor, & Sound Designer: Lindsey MorseTheme Music: Graeme Ronald

Part 2/3. Far from retiring after his move to Britain in a spy swap, Sergei Skripal was still actively engaged in intelligence work. He met with his MI6 handler, Pablo Miller, and continued to work with British and American agencies until at least 2017. In Part 2 of this three-part episode, we find out about Miller's connection to a private company called Orbis Business Intelligence, which prepared the "Trump-Russia Dossier.” We also look at the two Russian suspects in the Salisbury poisonings, and discover that they may have entered the UK using aliases.To find out more about the people and music featured in today’s episode, visit the Assassinations Podcast website.Please take our listener survey! You can find that here.Creator, Host, Writer, & Researcher: Niall CooperProducer, Editor, & Sound Designer: Lindsey MorseTheme Music: Graeme Ronald

Part 1/3. Sergei Skripal was a Russian military intelligence offer who betrayed his country to work for the British in the 1990s. He later moved to England, where he seemingly lived in retirement in the quaint cathedral city of Salisbury. But it appears that Skripal had not entirely left the world of spies behind him. Was this why he, with his daughter, was poisoned in March 2018? In Part 1 of a three-part episode, we follow the Skripals on the day they fell ill, and we find out about the exotic substance that might have been used against them.To find out more about the people and music featured in today’s episode, visit the Assassinations Podcast website.Please take our listener survey! You can find that here.Creator, Host, Writer, & Researcher: Niall CooperProducer, Editor, & Sound Designer: Lindsey MorseTheme Music: Graeme Ronald

Thomas Edward Lawrence was a British intelligence operative who participated in the Arab Revolt during the First World War. He became a celebrity upon his return to England, though he was uncomfortable with fame. After a subsequent career in the air force - and possibly as a spy - he died under strange circumstances. We interview Mark Griffin, whose upcoming film, "Lawrence: After Arabia,” explores the strange circumstances surrounding his death.For more information on the people and music featured in today’s episode (and to learn more about Mark Griffin’s film, “Lawrence: After Arabia”), visit the Assassinations Podcast website.

In Part 2 of this episode, we find out how Ashraf Marwan was outed as a spy and we look into the events leading up to his death. Marwan fell from the window of his fifth floor apartment in London, but the investigation that followed left many unanswered questions. And we will ask: did he fall, did he jump ... or was he pushed?For more information about the people and music featured in this episode, visit the Assassinations Podcast website.

Ashraf Marwan fell from the window of his fifth floor apartment in London's exclusive Mayfair. A billionaire businessman, he'd lived a quiet life in England for many years. In Part 1 of this episode, we look into his previous work as a spy - perhaps the greatest spy of the 20th Century. An Egyptian, in the 1970s he provided huge amounts of high level government information to Israel. These intelligence reports helped to shape Israeli policy. But had Marwan been a double agent the whole time?For more information about the people and music featured in this episode, visit the Assassinations Podcast website.

In Part 1, we reenacted a radio interview in which Boris Korczak made remarkable claims about multiple assassination attempts that followed his being outed as a CIA agent inside the KGB. We now take a look at Korczak's background, his work for the CIA in Denmark, and his subsequent fight against the US Government.For more information about the people and music featured in this episode, visit the Assassinations Podcast website.