Usman Khawaja insists armband was not political

Slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s widow has got political asylum in the US, it emerged on Friday.

As per BBC report, the widow of Jamal Khashoggi, the journalist who was murdered at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Hanan Elatr has been granted political asylum in the United States.

Hanan Elatr following Khashoggi’s killing feared for her safety and came to the US in August 2020 to apply for asylum, the report claimed.

On 2 October 2018, Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi dissident journalist, was reported to have been killed by agents of the Saudi government at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey.

Jamal Khashoggi’s widow was granted indefinite asylum status on 28 November, according to the BBC citing reviewed documents.

“We did win,” Elatr told the BBC, emotion catching in her throat. “Yes, they took Jamal’s life and they destroyed my life, but we did win.”

Elatr, a former flight attendant, had applied for political asylum in the US over three years ago, fearing her life would be in danger if she returned to Egypt or the United Arab Emirates, which have been her home of more than 25 years.

She lived in Maryland for months, abandoning her job and life, and her attorney, Randa Fahmy, confirmed this in an interview with BBC.

Eventually, she was able to obtain a work permit in October 2021 to begin her new life in the US and she now has a job and apartment — though she struggles to make ends meet.

“It’s been a lengthy process,” her attorney, Randa Fahmy added.