The widow of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi has asked the US government and the United Nations to intervene and help the Turkish government recover her husband’s electronic equipment so she can pursue legal action before it is sent to the border later this year. Let the law cease, according to letters, papers and other details about their efforts shared with NBC News.
It’s been more than a year since Hanan Elatar Khashoggi requested the laptop, tablet and two cellphones of the Washington Post columnist who was killed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018, and now he hopes to increase the pressure on Turkey by receiving the help. Doing it with Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
The letters, sent in November and January, said she believed the equipment would “reveal previously unknown details about my husband’s murder that are critical to knowing the full truth.”
Hanan Elatar Khashoggi named an Israeli cyber NSO group in both letters, writing, “I have a right to receive all their assets, especially now that I am in the United States against all parties responsible for my husband’s murder.” Initiating legal action.” -intelligence firms, and the Saudi and Emirati governments as planned targets of future lawsuits.
She said Turkey recovered the devices shortly after her husband’s death and wrote in her letters that her personal appeals to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for the phones, laptops and tablets “have not been honored.”
Erdogan’s office and the Turkish embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment. The Turkish embassy sent a letter to Hanan Elatar Khashoggi’s lawyer in December 2021 suggesting that he “send his request to the relevant Turkish courts through appropriate legal channels.”
Hanan Elatar Khashoggi, who is an Emirati, said she cannot pursue legal action in Turkey because she is in the US under political asylum, does not have a passport and does not have the necessary finances.
Jamal Khashoggi’s equipment is “so important and so important,” he said in an interview – a point that his lawyer, Randa Fahmy, emphasized – that it is important to find out what led to Jamal Khashoggi’s death and bring attention to all responsible parties. placed in
Hanan Elatar Khashoggi discovered in November 2021 that cyber-intelligence firm NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware had been installed on two of her Android phones without her knowledge while she was in the United Arab Emirates months before her husband’s death. That finding was confirmed by a digital forensic analysis conducted by Citizen Lab, which was reviewed by NBC News and first reported by The Washington Post. She believes that the same spyware may be on her husband’s device as well.
It was the discovery of the spyware that started the clock on his ability to take legal action. As per the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, he has two years to file a case from the time it is discovered. That window expires this November.
Hanan Elatar Khashoggi argues that the pair’s alleged surveillance by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and the NSO Group contributed to Jamal Khashoggi’s death, and she intends to file three separate lawsuits against them in US courts. She believes that finding similar spyware on her husband’s devices will help her cases.
“It’s not only Saudi Arabia that is to blame,” she told NBC News, referring to her husband’s death. “There are many people who are guilty, and we have a right to know and to bring them to justice.”
Saudi Arabia and the UAE did not respond to requests for comment. NSO Group has denied any involvement.
A spokesperson for the NSO Group said, “NSO has repeatedly stated that our technology was in no way connected with the heinous murder of Jamal Khashoggi or any member of his family.”
According to emails reviewed by NBC News, Haines’ letter of abuse to Elatar Khashoggi was sent via email to Charles Luftig, chief of staff to the Director of National Intelligence, on November 2, 2022, and he confirmed receipt of the message a day later. Did. The letter was originally sent to the agency in September, but has not received a response.
Fahmi, Hanan Elatar Khashoggi’s lawyer, said that by chance she bumped into Haines at the State Department on November 4 at the swearing-in ceremony of Puneet Talwar, the US ambassador to Morocco. Haines told him that she had read the letter and was, according to the understanding, discussing the request with the Justice Department.
“I said, ‘We really need those tools,'” the lawyer recalled. “She said, ‘You’re going to get a formal response, but I’ll let you know I’m talking to the Justice Department if such a request can be made.'”
Fahmy said he hasn’t heard back from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence since November. A spokeswoman for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence declined to comment. The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment.
The letter was sent to the Office of the UN Secretary-General on 30 January. A spokesman for the office, Farhan Aziz Haq, confirmed that they had received it and said that “it is still being studied.”
‘I have to continue and bring justice’
Hanan Elatr Khashoggi said she intends to file in a US court with criminal and civil claims against Saudi Arabia over her husband’s murder, despite the Biden administration’s decision that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s role as sovereign have immunity. Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia.
According to a report from Haines’ office in February 2021, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence had previously concluded that the crown prince had approved the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington Post who criticized the Saudi government. The report also names 18 other people involved in his death.
Hanan Elatar Khashoggi and Fahmi believe they have a strong position to make a case and aim to target those named individuals, not just the crown prince. While Fahmy acknowledged that “there is nothing we can do about the Biden administration’s findings on sovereign immunity,” he believes there are other avenues for both to explore and that “there are exceptions to sovereign immunity”. which he is willing to test.
The Biden administration has not imposed any harsh punishment on Saudi Arabia for the death of Jamal Khashoggi, although the president has said he will hold the country and its leaders accountable for the journalist’s murder. The National Security Council – which had previously met with Hanan Elatar Khashoggi, who disclosed her efforts to recover her husband’s equipment at the meeting – did not respond to a request for comment.
The second case will target the United Arab Emirates, where Hanan Elatr Khashoggi once lived and worked as a flight attendant. They are believed to have installed the NSO Group spyware on their devices when they were detained by UAE intelligence agents at Dubai International Airport in April 2018. ,
They believe Emiratis are involved in Jamal Khashoggi’s death, as they may have provided tracking information through an intelligence-sharing agreement the country has with Saudi Arabia.
Hana Elatar Khashoggi said, “They misused it to track down Jamal through me.” “They knew how important the relationship between me and Jamal was because we shared everything.”
Lastly, she intends to sue the NSO Group. He and Fahmi believe that there may have been only one spyware on Jamal Khashoggi’s phone and that NSO Group was involved in maintaining the software on all of his devices.
The firm is already facing other legal battles after the Supreme Court granted Meta last month a lawsuit against NSO Group for surveilling a number of people, including journalists and activists, according to court documents. To install spy software on WhatsApp messaging app. NSO Group has said that it installed the software on behalf of an unnamed foreign government.
Hanan Elatar Khashoggi said that her life has not changed because of her husband’s death – “My life is over.” But that thought has kept her devoted to her husband’s case.
She lost her career as a flight attendant in the U.S. There are five people in her social circle and she is in constant fear for her life. At her new job in Washington, D.C., she earns enough to pay for a room and feed herself.
Hanan Elatar Khashoggi said, “I am the second victim after Jamal.” “Jamal, he lost his life and I lost mine too, but I can speak about that and it gives me courage. I have to continue with him and get him justice.