Jamal Khashoggi's widow distraught over Trump's cozy meeting with Saudi crown prince

Washington DC - The widow of Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi dissident journalist brutally killed in 2018 in the kingdom's Istanbul consulate, voiced shock Wednesday over US President Donald Trump's embrace of the Saudi crown prince.

The widow of Jamal Khashoggi has voiced shock over President Donald Trump's (r.) embrace of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (l.) at the White House.
The widow of Jamal Khashoggi has voiced shock over President Donald Trump's (r.) embrace of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (l.) at the White House.  © Brendan Smialowski / AFP

"It did upset me a lot, and it was a disappointing," Hanan Elatr Khashoggi told AFP, saying that Trump was "misinformed" about Khashoggi.

"Jamal Khashoggi was a stable man, brave man, transparent man, and professional journalist," she said, disputing Trump's characterization of him as "extremely controversial."

Trump strenuously defended Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the oil-rich kingdom's de facto ruler, when he welcomed him on Tuesday.

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It was the Saudi prince's first White House visit since the 2018 murder of Khashoggi, who was strangled and then dismembered inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

Khashoggi was a US resident who wrote critically about the kingdom in The Washington Post.

US intelligence released by Trump's predecessor, Joe Biden, said that the crown prince ordered the killing, but Trump insisted that his guest had been unaware.

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Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was brutally murdered in 2018.
Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was brutally murdered in 2018.  © IMAGO / ABACAPRESS

Khashoggi's widow also said she was "in shock" over Trump's berating of an ABC News journalist who asked the crown prince about the killing.

Khashoggi's widow said that she had written to Trump in her bid to seek compensation from Saudi Arabia over the killing, but that she had received no response.

She has also asked for a face-to-face meeting with the crown prince, who called the killing of Khashoggi a "huge mistake" when asked in the Oval Office.

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"I'm looking to collect the remains of my husband's body, to bury him in a dignified way, and to ask for official apology and financial compensation," she said.

The widow, who has received asylum in the US, said she was "very disappointed" that the US was not following democratic values.

Saudi Arabia has thrown into doubt her claims, saying that the marriage was not properly registered.

At the time of his murder, Khashoggi was at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to complete paperwork to marry a Turkish woman.

Cover photo: Collage: IMAGO / ABACAPRESS & Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP

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