Jamal Khashoggi's Fiancée Files Suit Against Saudi Crown Prince

Hatice Cengiz, the fiancée of slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi, has filed a civil lawsuit against Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, as well as other officials, seeking to hold them accountable for Khashoggi’s death.

The suit, filed in a district court in Washington, D.C., lists over four full pages of defendants. It was filed by Cengiz along with Democracy for the Arab World Now, Inc. (DAWN).

“The ruthless torture and murder of Mr. Khashoggi shocked the conscience of people throughout the world. The objective of the murder was clear – to halt Mr. Khashoggi’s advocacy in the United States, principally as the Executive Director of Plaintiff DAWN, for democratic reform in the Arab world. The murder was carried out pursuant to a directive of Defendant Mohammed bin Salman, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. Defendants saw Mr. Khashoggi’s actions in the United States as an existential threat to their pecuniary and other interests and, accordingly, conspired to commit the heinous acts that are the subject of this suit,” said the complaint.

Also Read: Trump Bragged About Protecting Saudi Crown Prince After Khashoggi Murder, Woodward Reports

The suit adds that Cengiz was financially dependent on Khashoggi and that she “suffered loss of love, companionship, moral support & affection that she previously enjoyed.”

The crown prince has been at the center of the story since Khashoggi’s October 2018 killing. President Donald Trump told Bob Woodward he “saved” bin Salman in the aftermath of Khashoggi’s killing, according to Woodward’s book, “Rage.”

Trump said during one of his interviews for the book, “I saved his ass. I was able to get Congress to leave him alone. I was able to get them to stop.”

Shortly after Khashoggi, a columnist for the Washington Post, was killed and dismembered at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in October of 2018, the CIA concluded the crown prince himself ordered the assassination.

Sumit316 on October 20th, 2020 at 17:42 UTC »

You went through a very traumatic experience, and you went through it with millions of people following along. In what ways did that make things harder, and in what ways was the support of people following helpful?

There is no single answer to this question, but I will try to address it. The loss of Jamal was very traumatic, and it shook the entire world, with respect to human rights and to the nature of his profession. It has a political aspect, too, since he was killed in a consulate. His murder relates to so many things, including the intersection of his private life and his work. I was the only contact for his relatives, his loved ones, his friends, his family, and that made me postpone my own agony and sorrow.

It was only later on, when I was alone, that I came to understand what I lost, and how and why, and what sort of situation I was in. When I say I understood, of course I understood from the start, but the pain came much later. Being busy with the legal investigation and trying to understand what was going on—all these things postponed my pain and depression. When it came later, it was as a much bigger wave.

During the first month, like everyone else, I was trying to understand what was going on. I thought to myself, He hasn’t been killed, because how could that be possible? How could such a thing happen? It would have been beyond logic, and, in any case, as I said a little while ago, although Jamal penned some columns that bothered some people, he was a man of honesty and integrity, and his good will could not be challenged. Because he believed that something like this could never happen, I believed that, too. During the second and third and following months, while I came to believe the news reports, I could not accept it. It was so prolonged, do you understand? How I found out was not normal. The media kept covering him.

The whole world is calling you. You are bombarded with calls from every country in the world—agencies, names, countries that I would never have thought of constantly calling to make news out of the loss of the most important person in my life, the person that I loved the most. This is trauma. This is a psychology that deepens trauma.

I only started to overcome this psychology once everything subsided. I had to get psychological counselling. In the second and third months, when literally the ship came to sit on the land, and I realized that I had lost Jamal in such a brutal way, I sank into a huge depression.

During this time, as you know, I did not give any interviews to the media. I especially did not appear on any television programs, whether in Turkish or elsewhere. Following the official announcement declaring his murder, I had just one interview on a Turkish TV channel. I gave the interview because of the announcement. I did not want the case to be treated like a show. I tried to understand the situation within myself. Because it was such a heavy, serious thing, I did not want anyone to exploit the romantic aspect of our relationship.

This is such a special thing, such a sensitive thing. Instead of having it reduced to a love story, I cared so much that it stay serious. At the same time, I still thought Jamal was alive. I even thought that Jamal would explain it all himself once he was freed.

This was the main reason why I didn’t speak in front of the cameras outside the consulate. I thought there was no need to do so. Jamal went inside, but he hasn’t come back out. I was thinking that, when he did, he would make a statement to the press himself. And so this trauma still persists. Unfortunately, I still cannot lead a normal life. I’m not explaining my emotional state to agitate people—this is just the reality. I cannot continue my life like a normal person because I cannot forget.

This is still new for me. It stayed in the global agenda for a long time. Because we could not live our dreams together, the effects have weighed even heavier on me. If we had achieved our dreams, if we had been married, if it had gone a different way, I would have had more memories to hold onto. But everything stayed up in the air, stayed suspended.

Even when I go to the apartment that we bought together, everything is so different. Even Istanbul, my city, looks so different to me after this experience. I mean, this is not a trauma you can describe. It is a terrible thing.

This is from a Newyorker interview. What a strong lady. I hope she gets justice.

kalel1980 on October 20th, 2020 at 16:32 UTC »

Will this actually go anywhere though?

Mkwdr on October 20th, 2020 at 15:44 UTC »

Good luck to her. I have no doubt he will have assets all over the world, I hope she makes a dent in that and embarrasses him thoroughly.