Khadija Genghis: Jamal Khashoggi and I got married two weeks before his assassination

Khadija Genghis, 38, revealed for the first time that she and Jamal Khashoggi, 59, were not only engaged to the marriage, but they were legally married on September 16, 2018 in the presence of her family, but she did not talk about it before.

This was stated in

in the French newspaper Le Monde with Khadija in Istanbul, in which he said that after she received the newspaper's team in a small, secret lounge at the Marriott Hotel, the person known to the world as "Khashoggi's fiancée" sat next to her, her bodyguard, and started talking. I was nothing, I was never known, and I am telling you the story of my life. "

One of her relatives says to the newspaper that “Khadija initially accepted the name of the fiancée because they were not able to register their marriage in a civil manner, and she believes today that the time has come to reconcile with her not being Khashoggi's fiancée but his wife, especially since he handed over the dowry and presented himself to the parents and the rest of the family, as the father of The girl is on it. "

"All that remains is a civil marriage, and the Saudi had to prove that he is indeed divorced in his country of origin, because polygamy is prohibited in Turkey, and therefore he requested this document that he came to obtain from the consulate when the deadly trap was closed to him," the relative continued.

Although Khadija - as the writer says - was dreaming of a lavish celebration of her marriage, she preferred simplicity and satisfied with a simple ceremony in the presence of a few friends and family, waiting for the formalization of the civil marriage scheduled to take place in the two days following the receipt of the document.

Dweik said that since the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in his country's consulate on October 2, 2018, Turkish doctoral student Hatice Cengiz - whom the world knew as his fiancée - has been struggling to highlight the responsibility of Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman, who is suspected of ordering the killing. Her husband.

Hours of anxiety and fear

Dweik recalled the killing, since Khashoggi told Khadija in front of the consulate, "Wait for me here, you won't wait long."

Hatice Cengiz (left) in front of the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, before the assassination of her husband (Reuters)

There Khadija waited for 3 hours, she asked the employees who leave the building and the Turkish police working there, and anxiety began to seep into her, then fear after she did not find any answer, so no one knows anything and no one has seen anything, and the consulate closes its doors.

An hour later, I asked a Saudi employee as he was leaving, explaining who she was, and realizing from his paleness, "something bad had happened." Then I immediately called Sarah Leah Whitson, director of the Middle East and North Africa division at the American non-governmental organization Human Rights Watch, who was Khashoggi He had recommended her in case of extreme anxiety.

Whitson remembers advising her to stay where she is, and to call the police, which is what she did, before returning alone to her home with her anxiety and imagining everything except what she later learned about killing her husband and dismembering his body, which was never found.

How did they meet?

The newspaper's report states that in May 2018 Khashoggi was a guest at an international conference on the Middle East. Khadija, a journalist, researcher and doctoral student in political science, speaks fluent Arabic and dreams of meeting the man she knew through his articles and liked his ideas and analyzes, especially regarding It relates to the "Arab Spring".

Khadija spoke with Khashoggi during the break and she did not know that he was interested in her, and the rest happened like a lot of love stories, and quickly they decided to settle in Istanbul and get married, especially since Jamal is divorced and the father of 4 children.

Although Khadija's father did not take a positive view of her marriage to this foreigner who is older than her mother and who lives half the time in Washington, they accepted the issue, and even if they refused, Khadija would have done what she sees, because she is a "strong personality" as the United Nations Special Rapporteur Agnes Callamard says. She became her friend during the investigation into Khashoggi's death.

Love chopped brutally

When Khashoggi's smart watch is turned on, their picture appears on the screen while they are smiling. This is what remains for Khadija from her story, with pictures, a voice message, written words, a necklace and earrings as wedding gifts. “He was a nice and beautiful person, he was my love, my fiancé, my advisor, my friend and my brother,” as Le Monde quotes her.

Khadija can speak for hours about their story, how she walked along the Bosphorus, how they spoke the same language, about what he said to her, "You are the first woman I feel really comfortable with," and how he was completing the sentence she started, and how it all went in an instant.

The Saudi authorities ended up confessing the murder, and a mock trial followed after she was surrounded by the Turkish security services, who recorded Khashoggi's last minutes in the consulate. Khadija listened to these recordings and thought about suicide several times, according to one of her relatives, but she preferred to know everything and fight.

Khadija escaped from Istanbul, which witnessed the death of her love in a terrible way, but she returned to it after a year she spent in London, to say that "Istanbul means everything to me," before adding, "I have all this sadness in me, this is an unimaginable crime, I cannot." A breakdown of all the changes that have occurred in my life since October 2, 2018. '

Khadija remained in the heart of the conflict and is a fearless fighter who wants justice (Al Jazeera)

Heir to a tough battle

The French newspaper reports that Khadija - who was officially widowed before her marriage - became the unofficial heir to Jamal Khashoggi, because the only person who could be the heir is in Riyadh, and he is the journalist's eldest son and was received by bin Salman, who was suspected of being the real instigator of the assassination of his father, and forced him in a photograph. Insulting to waive any prosecution related to his death, as the writer says.

Khadija remained at the center of the conflict, speaking fluently to Al-Jazeera, CNN, or Swedish TV in English. Human rights, a fearless fighter and wanting justice, it is strong, fun and smart. "

Khadija spoke to the European Parliament and members of Congress in Washington, and spoke at an honoring ceremony in London, and dreams one day to establish the Jamal Khashoggi Foundation, and she - as Callamard says - "despite the severe shock she carries," and will do everything necessary to protect her dignity and that of Jamal.

A grain of sand against the Saudi regime

Callamard says it is unfair to describe Khadija only as "Khashoggi's wife," because life has thrown a terrible personal drama in her face, and she knows what she wants, and "even if all of the people withdraw from the case, she will not withdraw," says Turkish lawmaker and academic Yasin Aktay.

Nearly two years have passed since this resounding assassination, and little by little Khadija feels that she must give up grief and anger "because I will not do much for him with this feeling (...), so I have become the tireless little grain of sand that stands where the Saudis want to invest and improve their image. This is what keeps me going, I am doing this for him, so that no one will forget this crime, I am not just a woman who lost the man I loved, it is much more than that. "

Aktay says that "the real killers and the sponsors have not been tried or convicted yet," but thanks to Khadija, they are subjected to another form of punishment all over the world, which is the weight of shame, "evidenced by the dropping of the Newcastle Football Club deal this winter.

The French newspaper concludes that the responsibility of the Saudi state in the killing of Jamal Khashoggi was clearly identified through Callamard investigations of the United Nations and the CIA, but no country has taken any real sanctions against Riyadh to shed light on this issue.