Saudi Arabia says France arrested man for Khashoggi assassination | Jamal Khashoggi News

French police have arrested a Saudi citizen on suspicion of involvement in 2018 Murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi officials said they thought it was a case of misidentification.

The man was arrested by border police on a detention order issued by Turkey on a flight from Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris to Riyadh, judicial sources and airports have asked the AFP news agency to ask for his name.

Investigators on Tuesday wanted to search for a man with a passport in the name of Khalid Alotaibi in Turkey and confirm that he was a suspect of the same name punished by the US, which unleashed a wave of anger around the world over the assassination of Khashoggi.

The Saudi embassy in Paris issued a statement saying the arrested man “has nothing to do with the case” and called for his immediate release.

A Saudi security source added that “Khaled Alotaibi” was a very common name in the kingdom, and that the French maintained that Alotaibi was being punished in prison in Saudi Arabia along with “all the accused in the case”. .

A man named Khalid Alotaibi is one of 26 Saudis accused of being absent in Turkey at the trial, which began in October 2020. If convicted, he could face up to life in prison.

Two of the 26 currently on trial in Turkey are former aides to Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS). A Saudi official has never faced justice in Turkey for the murder.

Alotaibi is also one of 17 people nominated by the U.S. Treasury for his role in the 2018 murder.

Personality is being confirmed

A source in the case said that the Interpol Red Note issued by Turkey at the request of the passenger appeared to be passing passport control.

On Tuesday evening, checks were still being made to verify that his identity was correct and that the arrest warrant was being applied to him, another source in the case added, adding that the arrest could last up to 48 hours.

If he is confirmed to be a member of the alleged murder group, he will appear before the French prosecution.

He would have the right to challenge extradition to Turkey. If he does so, the French judiciary will have to decide whether to allow him to stay or be released on a formal extradition request from Turkey, which he keeps in custody, on condition that he leaves France.

It can usually take several weeks or months for the court to decide whether to surrender to Turkey against its will.

In September 2020, a Saudi court overturned the five death sentences handed down in Saudi Arabia after a closed-door trial, and instead sentenced the accused to 20 years in prison.

It was a trial criticized A UN official and human rights activists said the leaders of the killings were still at large.

“This could be a major step forward in the search for justice for Jamal Khashoggi,” said UN investigator Agnes Callamard, referring to the Paris arrest.

In a 2019 UN report, Callamard named Alotaibi as Khashoggi was killed and his body was crushed before returning to Saudi Arabia before flying to Saudi Arabia.

He said more evidence was needed to prove that the man arrested in France was the same person he identified in his report.

Khashoggi, a prominent Saudi citizen who lived in exile in the United States and wrote for The Washington Post, entered the Istanbul consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018 to present the formalities for marrying her Turkish boyfriend.

According to U.S. and Turkish officials, the wait Saudi hit team drowning and splitting his body, which he never recovered.

The horrific assassination sparked widespread international outrage as Western intelligence agencies accused Saudi de facto leader MBS of permitting the assassination.

Don’t ‘forget’

Tuesday’s arrest comes after French President Emmanuel Macron defended his decision to join a tour of the Gulf states of Saudi Arabia and came just days after the visit was said to have meant “forgetting” the Khashoggi case. Macron was the first major Western leader to visit the kingdom since his assassination.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said the order to assassinate Khashoggi came from the “highest levels” of the Saudi government, but has never directly blamed the MBS.

The Paris arrest comes at a time when Turkey is trying to revive relations with the kingdom and other Arab states.

Khashoggi’s wife, Hatice Cengiz, said in a statement that the arrest of the suspect was “a very significant first step towards justice for Jamal.”

“Justice must be allowed to go its own way. Most importantly, those who carried out the plan must not be used to protect those who ordered the savage assassination of Jamal, including the Crown Prince himself. They must also be arrested and prosecuted.”

In a tweet, he called on France to “prosecute him for his crime, or to extradite him to a country that is capable of being investigated and actually tried and tried.”

I welcome the arrest of one of Jamal’s killers today #France. France should be tried for her crime, or she should be extradited to a country that is capable of investigating and prosecuting the person who ordered her and Jamal to be killed. https://t.co/naqzfujCsp

– Hatice Cengiz / خديجة (@mercan_resifi) December 7, 2021

The Reporter Without Borders (RSF) described the arrest as “great news” and said it had filed a complaint against Alotaibi in October 2019 on charges of murder, torture and enforced disappearance.

The RSF said it had maintained “complete confidentiality” over the allegation in order to improve its chances of arrest during a visit to France.

Group leader Christophe Deloire said: “Sometimes governments turn a blind eye to people who are being persecuted in another country. I’m glad there was an arrest, and the police haven’t closed their eyes this time. “

Alotaibi is “someone we’ve been following for a long time,” he added.