PARIS (AP) — The wife of Meng Hongwei, the former Interpol president jailed in China, says France has granted her refugee status.

Grace Meng says the decision marks the start of "a second life" for her and their two sons. She told The Associated Press on Monday that she believes that "if France hadn't protected me, I would have been killed ages ago."

Her last communication with her husband was an emoji of a knife he texted her from China shortly before he disappeared on a trip to Beijing last September. China subsequently announced that the ex-vice minister for public security had been expelled from the ruling Communist Party and been indicted on bribery charges.

Grace Meng's legal team filed her asylum request in November to authorities in France, where Interpol is based.