Jamal Khashoggi Age, Death, Fiancée, Wife, Children, Family, Biography

Some Lesser Known Facts About Jamal Khashoggi

• Jamal Khashoggi was born and grew up in Medina, Saudi Arabia.

• Khashoggi’s ancestor traveled from Kayseri to Mecca for the Hajj about 400 years ago and chose to settle there.

• Jamal’s father and grandfather were medical doctors. His grandfather was the personal physician of Saudi King Abdulaziz Al Saud.

• He completed his elementary and secondary education in Saudi Arabia. For his higher education, he moved to the United States and completed his Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Indiana University in 1982.

• In 1983, Jamal began his professional career as a regional manager for Tihama Bookstores in Saudi Arabia.

• In 1985, Khashoggi worked for Saudi Arabia’s two daily newspapers, in Saudi Gazette as a correspondent and in Okaz as an assistant manager.

• From 1987 to 1990, he worked for various Saudi Arabian daily newspapers, including Asharq Al-Awsat, Al Majalla, and Al Muslimoon.

• In 1989, during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Jamal worked with the Saudi Arabian Intelligence Agency and worked with the United States.

• During the early 1990s, he interviewed Osama bin Laden several times with support from Saudi intelligence. In 1995, during an interview, he even tried to convince Osama bin Laden to give up violence, but bin Laden refused to change his views. In 2001, after 9/11 attacks, he completely distanced himself from him after the 9/11 attacks. He also wrote strongly against extremism at that time.
  

  Jamal Khashoggi (right) with Osama Bin Laden (left)

• In 1991, Jamal was appointed managing editor and acting editor-in-chief of Al Madina, one of Saudi Arabia’s oldest newspapers. He has worked there till 1999.

• During his tenure at Al Madina, he also served as a foreign correspondent in various countries such as Afghanistan, Algeria, Kuwait, Sudan, and the Middle East.

• From 1999 to 2003, Khashoggi served as deputy editor-in-chief for Arab News.

• In 2003, Jamal Khashoggi was appointed as the editor-in-chief of the Saudi Arabian daily newspaper Al Watan. However, in May 2003, he was dismissed by the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Information after publishing a column that criticized a prominent religious figure.

• After he was dismissed, he moved to London and became an advisor to Prince Turki Al Faisal, when Al Faisal was serving as Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States.

• In April 2007, Jamal was re-appointed as the editor-in-chief of Al Watan.

• Three years later, in 2010, he was again removed from Al Watan, because his writing and editorial style had started an open debate in Saudi Society. Although Al Watan gave a statement in which they said that Jamal Khashoggi resigned due to his personal projects.

• In 2015, Jamal launched his satellite news channel Al-Arab, based in Bahrain. The channel was based outside Saudi Arabia because it does not allow independent news channels to operate within its borders.

• His channel was financed by a Saudi Arabian billionaire, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, and the King of Bahrain, Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa. And it was partnered with the U.S. financial news channel Bloomberg Television.

• Unfortunately, his channel was aired for less than 11 hours and shut down by Bahrain.

• After that, he became a political commentator for Saudi Arabian and international channels, including MBC, BBC, Al Jazeera, and Dubai TV.

• From June 2012 to September 2016, his political opinions were regularly telecast by the news channel Al Arabiya.

• In December 2016, he was banned by the Saudi Arabian authorities from publishing or appearing on television because in one of his telecasts, he criticised U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.

• In June 2017, Jamal Khashoggi moved to the USA and started writing for an American daily newspaper, The Washington Post.

• In September 2017, Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman felt that Jamal’s writing was spoiling his image, so he started targeting Jamal Khashoggi. Some Saudi authorities used online trolls and even used a spyware known as “Pegasus” to monitor his cell phone.

• Soon, with over two million followers on X, he became the most famous political pundit in the Arab world. He had also appeared regularly on the major TV news networks in Britain and in the United States.

• In 2018, Jamal founded a new political organisation called “Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN)” in which he promoted democratic movements in the Arab world.

• In October 2018, Jamal was planning for his fourth marriage, so on 2 October 2018, he entered the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul to collect some papers for his upcoming marriage; he was never seen coming out of the consulate.
  

  A still of Jamal Khashoggi, while he was going inside the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul

• His fiancée, Hatice Cengiz, had waited for him outside the consulate for about 10 hours.

• Soon, reports claimed that he had been killed and dismembered with a bone saw inside the consulate.

• For about two weeks, Saudi Arabia consistently denied any knowledge of his death. In an interview, Prince Mohammed Bin Salman said that,

The journalist had left the consulate “after a few minutes or one hour”. “We have nothing to hide.”

• On 15 October 2018, Saudi Arabian and Turkish officials inspected the consulate and found evidence that Khashoggi had been killed, and the evidence was destroyed.

• On 20 October 2018, the Saudi government claimed that Khashoggi died in a “fight” inside the consulate after resisting efforts to take him back to Saudi Arabia. Later, a Saudi official said he died because he was put in a chokehold.

• On 31 October 2018, Istanbul’s chief prosecutor released a statement stating that without the knowledge of the Saudis, the consulate had been bugged by Turkish intelligence, and both the planning and the execution of Jamal’s murder were recorded. His body may have been dissolved in acid.

• In November 2018, the Central Investigation Agency (CIA) of the United States concluded that Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman ordered Jamal Khashoggi’s assassination.

• On 20 November 2018, U.S. President Donald Trump rejected the CIA’s conclusion that Crown Prince bin Salman had ordered the killing. He issued a statement saying that,

It could very well be that the Crown Prince had knowledge of this tragic event – maybe he did and maybe he didn’t” and that “In any case, our relationship is with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”

• In December 2018, Time Magazine named Khashoggi as a Time Person of the Year for 2018.

• In March 2019, the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) issued notices for twenty people in connection with the murder of Khashoggi

• After six months on 19 June 2019, Agnès Callamard, a French human rights expert and UN Special Rapporteur, released a 101-page report stating the State of Saudi Arabia was responsible for the “premeditated extrajudicial execution” of Khashoggi.

• In September 2019, Prince Mohammed bin Salman stated that he bears the responsibility for Khashoggi’s assassination, stating that,

because it happened under my watch.”

• On 23 December 2019, a Saudi Arabian court sentenced five officials to death and three others to 24 years in prison.
  

  A picture of suspected Saudis men who were involved in Khashoggi’s murder

• On 22 May 2020, Khashoggi’s son pardoned the five officials, which means they will be set free rather than executed.

• On 7 April 2022, a Turkish court ordered the transfer of the trial to Saudi Arabia, although many of the suspects had already been acquitted in Saudi Arabia. The decision was criticized by human rights advocates and lawyers involved in the case.

• His fiancée, Hatice Cengiz, appealed against the decision to transfer the trial to Saudi Arabia. She took legal action, where she challenged the Turkish court’s decision to move the case from Turkey to Saudi Arabia and sought to keep the trial in Turkey, where it might lead to greater accountability.

• At the time of his death, Jamal Khashoggi was planning to marry Hatice Cengiz, who was a Ph.D. student at a university in Istanbul at that time. The couple had met in May 2018 during a conference in the city. Khashoggi visited the Saudi consulate on 2 October 2018 to obtain the necessary paperwork for their marriage.

• On 22 June 2022, the Foggy Bottom street in Washington was renamed “Jamal Khashoggi Way” in honor of Jamal Khashoggi. The street sign unveiling ceremony was held at 1:14 p.m. ET, symbolising the time Khashoggi was last seen before his death on 2 October 2018. Phil Mendelson, president of the District of Columbia Council, said that,

“The street will serve as a constant reminder, a memorial to Jamal Khashoggi’s memory that cannot be covered up.”

Street sign of Jamal Khashoggi Way

• In 2023, Los Angeles also renamed the street outside the Saudi consulate “Jamal Khashoggi Way” and also named a nearby intersection “Jamal Khashoggi Square.”

• In 2019, an award, “Jamal Khashoggi – Award for Courageous Journalism 2019” (JKA) was created in his name to honour the brave journalist.

• On 2 October 2020, on his second death anniversary, a documentary titled Kingdom of Silence, about the murder of Khashoggi, was released. In the same year, one more documentary titled The Dissident was released.

• In November 2025, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman visited White House, where journalists asked about the death of Jamal Khashoggi. Donald Trump defended him and said he believed that the prince “didn’t know” anything about the murder.
  

  Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman with Donald Trump, while the former visited the White House in November 2025

• Khashoggi’s wife, Hanan Elatr Khashoggi, strongly reacted to Donald Trump and Prince Mohammed’s remarks and said there is no excuse or justification for her husband’s murder.
  

  Jamal Khashoggi’s wife, Hanan Elatr Khashoggi, while speaking during an interview

• In December 2025, Hanan Elatr filed a legal complaint in a French court alleging that Saudi Arabia deployed spyware to snoop on her devices before Jamal Khashoggi was murdered. In her complaint, she mentioned that when she was working as a flight attendant, her phone data was being stolen by Saudi Arabia.

• Hanan Elatre was demanding a public apology and compensation from Prince Mohammed bin Salman.