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Saudi Arabian prince Mohammed bin Salman is set to find himself face-to-face with the wife of slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi when he visits the White House next week.
Hanan Elatr-Khashoggi, 57, is lobbying for the return of her husband’s remains and millions of dollars in compensation, after he was killed and dismembered at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018.
Salman, most commonly known by his initials, MBS, is set to meet with President Donald Trump on Nov. 18.
Elatr is planning to upstage the meeting, telling The Post she wants an official apology and compensation for the Saudi government’s role in her husband’s murder.
“The murder of my husband has caused me to lose everything: the love of my life, my livelihood and my family,” she said.
Elatr first met Khashoggi at a journalism conference in 2009 and married him in a Muslim ceremony in Virginia a few months before he was killed. Washington Post columnist Khashoggi was a fierce critic of the Saudi government as well as other repressive regimes in the Middle East.
“I am sure that he [MBS] will help me if American politicians take the lead and speak up,” Elatr told The Post.
“He already took responsibility for Jamal’s death in a ’60 Minutes’ interview in 2019,” she noted. During the interview, MBS denied ordering the murder but stated he took “full responsibility” as leader of Saudi Arabia.
The Saudi public prosecutor blamed the murder on a rogue group of Saudi operatives who were later tried and convicted for Khashoggi’s death.
Despite their marriage — Khashoggi’s third — Elatr never received any kind of acknowledgment or compensation from Saudi authorities. Those authorities approved the “delivery of homes and monthly payments of $10,000 or more” to each of Khashoggi’s four children, the Washington Post reported. An official added to the newspaper that the payments were “part of our custom and culture.”
Following Khashoggi’s death, Elatr claims she was detained in Dubai, where she worked for an airline. She fled to the US where she successfully applied for political asylum, but was shocked to be locked out of the apartment she had shared with Khashoggi in Alexandria.
She also found there was spyware installed on her phone, according to a forensic analysis conducted by Citizen Lab, a Canadian research firm, according to reports.
When Khashoggi was killed he was at the embassy to collect documents he needed to wed another woman, Hatice Cengiz, a Turkish graduate student.
Although his marriage to Elatr was performed by an imam in Virginia and recognized in the Muslim faith, they had not undergone a legally binding civil marriage ceremony in the US.
Elatr, who now works the night shift at a Washington DC hotel, is also asking for Khashoggi’s remains, although they have never been found, as well as his cell phones and computer, seized by authorities in Turkey.
“The Saudis have a chance to show the world they stand for human rights and democracy by helping me and releasing the prisoners,” she said.
English (US)