<p>Khashoggi, 52, said he was stepping down as editor-in- chief of the newspaper, in a statement published on its website.<br /><br />"Jamal Khashoggi, the editor in chief, has announced his resignation from Al-Watan to focus on his personal projects," the statement said, adding that he would be replaced in the meantime by deputy editor Sulayman al-Aquili.<br /><br />Khashoggi was on his second stint as editor after having been forced to resign in 2003 over an Al-Watan editorial criticising 14th century Muslim theologian Ibn Taymiyya.<br />Taymiyya's thinking is closely linked to the ultra- conservative Wahhabi Islamic school which dominates Saudi life.<br /><br />Khashoggi returned to the paper in 2007 after serving as advisor to Prince Turki al-Faisal -- whose family controls Al-Watan - when he was ambassador to the United States.<br />Under Khashoggi, Al-Watan's writers have aggressively poked at the contradictions and oppressive effects of Wahhabism, especially with regard to women.<br /><br />Khashoggi wrote about bin Laden in his formative years as a radical Islamist and interviewed him in Afghanistan in 1987 during the fight against Russian occupation.<br />"He was very proud," Khashoggi told Robert Lacey, author of the 2009 book "Inside the Kingdom."<br /><br />"He showed me how he'd figured out that he could defend the whole valley from a certain vantage point. The Afghans, he said, did not think tactically like that."<br /><br />Khashoggi was working for Al-Watan rival Al-Hayat newspaper in 1994 when he travelled to Sudan to see if bin Laden, already wanted by the Saudi government, might return to the Saudi fold.<br /><br />"One of his cousins called me," he told Lacey. "He told me 'Osama's changed, he wants to come back.'"<br /><br />Although he met bin Laden several times, the Al-Qaeda founder was unwilling to return and ultimately refused to give him another interview.<br /><br /></p>
<p>Khashoggi, 52, said he was stepping down as editor-in- chief of the newspaper, in a statement published on its website.<br /><br />"Jamal Khashoggi, the editor in chief, has announced his resignation from Al-Watan to focus on his personal projects," the statement said, adding that he would be replaced in the meantime by deputy editor Sulayman al-Aquili.<br /><br />Khashoggi was on his second stint as editor after having been forced to resign in 2003 over an Al-Watan editorial criticising 14th century Muslim theologian Ibn Taymiyya.<br />Taymiyya's thinking is closely linked to the ultra- conservative Wahhabi Islamic school which dominates Saudi life.<br /><br />Khashoggi returned to the paper in 2007 after serving as advisor to Prince Turki al-Faisal -- whose family controls Al-Watan - when he was ambassador to the United States.<br />Under Khashoggi, Al-Watan's writers have aggressively poked at the contradictions and oppressive effects of Wahhabism, especially with regard to women.<br /><br />Khashoggi wrote about bin Laden in his formative years as a radical Islamist and interviewed him in Afghanistan in 1987 during the fight against Russian occupation.<br />"He was very proud," Khashoggi told Robert Lacey, author of the 2009 book "Inside the Kingdom."<br /><br />"He showed me how he'd figured out that he could defend the whole valley from a certain vantage point. The Afghans, he said, did not think tactically like that."<br /><br />Khashoggi was working for Al-Watan rival Al-Hayat newspaper in 1994 when he travelled to Sudan to see if bin Laden, already wanted by the Saudi government, might return to the Saudi fold.<br /><br />"One of his cousins called me," he told Lacey. "He told me 'Osama's changed, he wants to come back.'"<br /><br />Although he met bin Laden several times, the Al-Qaeda founder was unwilling to return and ultimately refused to give him another interview.<br /><br /></p>
