The widow of slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi has criticized President Donald Trump for ignoring her efforts to discuss her husband’s brutal murder with him, describing the experience as “painful,” according to an interview with The Times UK. Hanan Elatr Khashoggi, 57, said her attempts to meet the president and press for the return of her husband’s remains were overlooked as Trump rolled out the red carpet for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, widely believed to have ordered the assassination.
Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and U.S.-based critic of the Saudi regime, was lured into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018, where he was murdered, dismembered, and smuggled out in suitcases. U.S. intelligence concluded that bin Salman had approved the operation, though the crown prince has denied personally ordering the killing while acknowledging responsibility as the kingdom’s de facto ruler.
In a White House press conference during the Saudi leader’s visit, Trump described Khashoggi as “extremely controversial” and said “a lot of people didn’t like that,” comments that Elatr strongly rejected. Speaking to The Times UK, she called her husband a “good, transparent and brave man” and demanded the return of his remains so she could bury him with dignity. “I feel very sore that I have not managed to see President Trump. I did appeal to him. I sent him a personal letter and also to Melania Trump. I hope I’ve been heard,” she said.
Elatr described Trump’s reluctance to address human rights concerns as especially painful given that bin Salman agreed to purchase F-35 fighter jets and pledged $1 trillion in U.S. investments earlier this year. She also demanded accountability for everyone involved in harming her husband and called for compensation. “Normalising relations and helping Saudi Arabia to develop and be advanced, that is great. That’s what Jamal wished. But to neglect justice, freedom and the life of journalists?” she said.
Originally from Egypt, Elatr was granted political asylum in the U.S. in 2023 and lives in Virginia. She described harassment campaigns allegedly carried out by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates following her husband’s death and is suing NSO Group, the Israeli manufacturer of Pegasus spyware, for allegedly attempting to hack her phone. She married Khashoggi three months before his assassination. The last time she saw him was at the Sheraton Hotel in New York, moments before he traveled to the Istanbul consulate, unaware it would be their final meeting.
Elatr’s interview with The Times UK highlights ongoing criticism over the U.S. administration’s handling of human rights in dealings with Saudi Arabia, particularly in the wake of Trump’s high-profile welcome for a leader long associated with one of the most notorious journalist killings of recent years.
