<mediadc-video-embed data-state="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"00000161-3486-d333-a9e9-76c6fbf30000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b93390000"},"cms.content.publishDate":1654212500576,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"0000016e-3da0-d10d-abef-3df3e9dc0001","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"cms.content.updateDate":1654212500576,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"0000016e-3da0-d10d-abef-3df3e9dc0001","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"rawHtml":"
var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ "div": "Brid_54196389", "obj": {"id":"27789","width":"16","height":"9","video":"1024568"} }); ","_id":"00000181-26bf-dedf-ad93-bfff8c6f0000","_type":"2f5a8339-a89a-3738-9cd2-3ddf0c8da574"}”>Video EmbedEXCLUSIVE — The wife of murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi is requesting a meeting with President Joe Biden and urging him to demand the release of political prisoners before he travels to Saudi Arabia, according to a letter obtained by the Washington Examiner.
In the letter sent to Biden on Thursday, Hanan Elatr Khashoggi urged the president to demand that her husband’s murderers be held accountable and that other Saudi dissidents be released.
“I want all parties to be held accountable for my husband’s death, including the Governments of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and the NSO Group,” Hanan Elatr Khashoggi wrote. She asked Biden to “please remember what Jamal wanted most in this world: the release of all political prisoners being held in Saudi Arabia, including Jamal’s close friend, Essam Al-Zamil.”
“For Saudi Arabia to release those political prisoners at your diplomatic request would honor the true legacy of my husband,” she added.
American intelligence determined that Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist critical of the Saudi government, was ordered to be killed by Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
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Biden, who as a candidate promised to take a hard line against the “pariah” kingdom in response to Jamal Khashoggi’s 2018 assassination, is expected to travel to Riyadh later this month to rebuild ties with Saudi leaders as he attempts to lower gas prices and isolate Russia on the world stage. A major energy producer, Saudi Arabia had resisted U.S. entreaties to pump more oil before announcing Thursday that it would slightly boost production in July and August.
In Riyadh, Biden is expected to meet with the crown prince, senior administration officials told the New York Times, as well as Emirati President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahyan and other Middle Eastern leaders. The National Security Council has not announced the trip and did respond to a request for comment confirming the plans.
The decision would mark a turn for the president. While Biden declined to punish the crown prince after U.S. intelligence determined him responsible for the death of Jamal Khashoggi, the president has held back from engaging the crown prince directly, instead liaising with King Salman, his ailing father.
In the Thursday letter, Hanan Elatr Khashoggi said still more could be done and pointed to a forensic investigation indicating that representatives of the Emirati government had installed spyware on her personal devices months before Jamal Khashoggi was murdered and dismembered in Istanbul by a Saudi hit team. In response, the Biden administration blacklisted NSO Group, a technology company that develops tools allowing smartphones to be monitored covertly.
“Your Administration’s backlisting of NSO is a welcome start,” she wrote. “But media reports detailing NSO’s attempts to sell their company to politically well-connected investors in the U.S. will not reverse the stain of their involvement in my husband’s murder.”
NSO has strongly denied the findings by Citizen Lab, the Washington Post, and others and is seeking to overturn the government’s designation.
Hanan Elatr Khashoggi’s requests come as the administration’s resolve to keep the crown prince out in the cold had appeared to fade and as the president faces a slew of political challenges, including high gasoline prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Cooperation with Saudi Arabia has increased on a range of issues over recent months, a thaw marked by outreach from the president’s top advisers on issues ranging from energy to the eight-year war in neighboring Yemen. On Thursday, a two-month truce in the Yemen war was announced, with Biden praising Saudi leaders for their role.
“Saudi Arabia demonstrated courageous leadership by taking initiatives early on to endorse and implement terms of the U.N.-led truce,” Biden said in a statement.
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The Biden administration has sought to bridge closer ties with another Gulf oil producer, sending a high-level delegation led by Vice President Kamala Harris on a condolence visit to the United Arab Emirates after the death of Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al Nahyan. An Axios report this week said Washington is weighing a new security agreement with the UAE.
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