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Jamal Khashoggi’s Fiancée Demands That Saudi Arabia be Held Accountable for His Murder

After Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi vanished inside the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul almost a year ago, his fiancée became a familiar figure around the world, an anxious woman in a headscarf pleading for answers about his fate.

But Khashoggi was never seen alive again. Hatice Cengiz eventually learned he had been slain inside the consulate by fellow Saudis, who had waited in ambush. The CIA and other foreign intelligence agencies concluded that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the killing of Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist who had dared to openly criticize the de facto ruler of the Saudi kingdom.

With the first anniversary of the death approaching on Oct. 2, Cengiz came to New York — where heads of state gathered for the United Nations General Assembly — to demand accountability for Saudi Arabia, which she said has never had to face serious consequences over the case.

“His fellow journalists did their best that so no one could push this under the carpet,” she told NBC News in an interview. “Saudi Arabia was put under massive pressure, thanks to international media coverage.”

“But at the end of the day, all of these efforts did not persuade world leaders to sanction Saudi Arabia. That is so sad,” she said.

“There was a lack of reaction in the E.U. and in the United States. This should have been a lesson to Saudi Arabia that they can and should also be held accountable.”

Her comments came as the crown prince broke his silence and spoke for the first time about his role in the killing.

“It happened under my watch,” he told PBS’ “Frontline.” “I get all the responsibility, because it happened under my watch.”

But he said the murder was carried out without his knowledge.

Cengiz spoke to NBC News in a hotel room near the U.N. headquarters in Manhattan, where Saudi leaders this week were conferring with U.S. and other officials on tensions with Iran and the war in Yemen. President Donald Trump did not mention the Khashoggi case in his public statements.

Cengiz was joined in New York by others whose loved ones have also run afoul of the Saudi government: Lina al-Hathloul, sister of detained Saudi women’s rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul, and Abdullah Alaoudh, son of imprisoned Saudi Islamic scholar Salman al-Awdah, who faces a death sentence.

Cengiz has demanded a full accounting of Khashoggi’s death and the recovery of his remains.

Cengiz, who had met Khashoggi in May last year, said the international attention triggered by his killing meant she felt the full weight of her loss only months later.

“It took me a long time to enter into mourning,” she said.

She said she found herself swept up in the aftermath of a “political assassination” with international implications, and her phone ringing around the clock. “I wasn’t prepared for such a situation. I was just an ordinary, simple research assistant doing post-graduate studies. I couldn’t mourn properly.”

But finally, the tragedy sank in, she said. “After a long delay, I experienced this huge shock wave.”

Cengiz, a Turkish national, said she has moved to London to distance herself from the “scene of the crime” in Istanbul, and to learn English. But she said she recognizes that there is no escaping the horror that took place.

“For the rest of my life, Jamal’s murder will be an agony.”

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Follow us on Twitter at @thesignalng

Copyright 2019 SIGNAL. Permission to use portions of this article is granted provided appropriate credits are given to www.signalng.com and other relevant source.

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