Hanan El-Atr Khashoggi [1]DW is an Egyptian-born Emirati woman. She revealed herself to be Jamal Khashoggi’s wife after the CIA reported Jamal’s assassination by the Saudi government in 2018.
Wiki/Biography
Hanan El-Atr was born on Monday, September 30, 1968 (age 52 years; as of 2020), in Egypt. She lives with her family in the United Arab Emirates.
Physical Appearance
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Black
Family & Ethnicity
She belongs to an Arab Muslim family and follows Islam. [2]Twitter Account – Hanan El-Atr
Parents & Siblings
Her mother’s name is Mona Sarah Mohamed Ahmed Khaled. She has a sister named Mona El-Atr.
Hanan El-Atr’s mother
Relationship & Husband
In 2008, she met Jamal Khashoggi (a journalist) in a media forum in the Middle East. They both began dating in 2017, and on June 2, 2018, she got married to Jamal at the headquarters of the Open University, Alexandria, Virginia, according to Islamic traditions. Their relationship was kept secret and they only spent time together when she traveled to the US.
Hanan El-Atr with Jamal Khashoggi
As of 2021, she is trying to get official recognition of her marriage with Jamal in the US. After she came out as Jamal’s wife, she was suspected to be lying. As proof, she shared the text messages between her and Jamal and photographs of her wedding ceremony to The Washington Post. In an interview, she shared that she stepped forward to reveal her relationship (with Jamal) because,
As a Muslim wife, I want my full right and to be recognized.”
Marriage certificate of Hanan El-Atr and Jamal Khashoggi
Career
She began her career as a flight attendant and for 22 years, she was employed at Emirates airlines as flight attendant.
Hanan El-Atr as a flight attendant
She also worked with Al Bayan, an Emirati newspaper, where she trained as a journalist. She actively writes for a few Emirati publications and attends media and cultural forums in the UAE.
Favorite Things
- Poet: Badr Shaker Al-Sayyab
- Violinist: André Rieu
- Singer(s): Leila Mourad, Umm Kulthum
- Music Composer: Sheikh Zakaria Ahmed
Facts/Trivia
- Her husband, Jamal Khashoggi, was murdered inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in Turkey, where he was lured by the Saudi government on the pretext of giving him the proof that he was divorced and eligible to marry Hatice Cengiz. Talking about the murder in an interview, she said,
I’m sure if they know the truth about Jamal, and I’m allowed to say his message and his truth, they will really regret what they did to my husband.”
- In an interview, she thanked US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for holding the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman accountable for the killing of Jamal. She said,
They kept their word for human rights, they emphasize, and they’ve been transparent and help the truth to come out, which has encouraged me now, because I’m free to talk now, because I didn’t have this freedom for two years.”
- Two weeks after her engagement with Jamal, she traveled back to the UAE, where she was placed under house arrest from April 2018 to May 2018, and Hanan and her family were blacklisted. In 2020, she took refuge in the US after she was released from house arrest (imposed on her again after the murder of Jamal) in the United Arab Emirates. She said that she came to the United States to deliver her husband’s message. She said,
It’s not been delivered till now. It’s been missed out in the middle of all of this polarization and the misuse of his tragedy. I hope everybody learns from Jamal’s tragedy and to stop this acting, this crime against humans, against journalists. Journalists, they’re doing their job to transfer the truth about people and to help people to get a better life.”
- In 2020, she was featured in the TV documentary film ‘Kingdom of Silence,’ based on Jamal’s life, work, and murder.
- In 2021, she filed a lawsuit against the Imam who carried out the marriage ceremony of her and Jamal. According to her, she sued the Imam because,
Because the Imam did not abide by what he said on the day of the marriage contract, he promised something and he and the witnesses did not fulfill it, the marriage was not proven, so now the matter is in the hands of justice and I trust the American judiciary.”
References
| ↑1 | DW |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | Twitter Account – Hanan El-Atr |
