Khashoggi’s Widow Granted Political Asylum in US

Hanan Elatr, the widow of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, has been granted political asylum in the United States five years after the Saudi government murdered her husband.

“I couldn’t really believe it,” Elatr told The Washington Post about what she thought when first found out. “I said, ‘Is this real?’ I couldn’t digest it.” She said the decision “shows there is one victim who is still alive.”

Elatr later thanked the paper, Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., and Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., in a post on the social media platform X for helping her obtain asylum.

The news is the latest development in the fallout from Khashoggi’s death, which U.S. intelligence determined in 2021 was carried out by Saudi government officials at the country’s consulate in Istanbul.

While Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has attributed Khashoggi’s death to lower-level officials, the U.S. believes he ordered the hit.

Khashoggi, 59, was a notable critic of the Saudi state and the royal family before his death, writing a column for the Post dedicated to covering them.