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Author: Alain Acco
PARIS (Reuters) – A Saudi man arrested at a Paris airport has been arrested in connection with the alleged murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi because his passport has raised an alert, a police source said on Wednesday after Saudi Arabia said it was a case of misidentification. .
French law enforcement sources have named Khaled Aedh Al-Otaibi as the man arrested on Tuesday – the same name as a former Saudi Royal Guard member involved in the assassination of Khashoggi in US and British prison documents and a UN report. Turkey.
The Saudi embassy in Paris said on Tuesday night that the detainee had “nothing to do with the case” and should be released immediately.
The man was arrested at the airport on Tuesday morning when his passport triggered an alert based on a Turkish arrest warrant while they were scanning, police sources said on Wednesday.
The alert showed that they were looking for a murder investigation, the source said.
According to the source, the authorities have 48 hours from the time of his arrest at the airport – so until 10:00 on Thursday (0900 GMT) – to verify his whereabouts and release or report the arrest to the prosecutor. he will take orders and take steps to arrest him for longer.
In a separate period, Turkey has a total of 40 days since its arrest to inform the French of a formal extradition request through diplomatic channels, a judicial source said. If the request is not made, the suspect will be released.
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French police have details of his passport and a poor quality photo based on a Turkish arrest warrant, but no biometric information, police sources said, adding that they could ask Turkey for more information.
A 2019 UN investigative report said he was a member of a 15-member Saudi group involved in the assassination of Al-Otaibi Khashoggi after the journalist went to the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul to obtain a document authorizing her to marry her boyfriend.
The report says that one of the five members of the Al-Otaibi group was not present at the consulate – the report said the murder had taken place – but at the headquarters of the consul general, where the body was taken.
Khashoggi, a Washington Post journalist and critic of Saudi Arabia’s de facto authority, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was last seen entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018. Turkish officials believe his body was dismembered and removed. No remains have been found.
A U.S. intelligence report released in March this year said Prince Mohammed had approved the operation to kill or capture Khashoggi. The Saudi government has denied any involvement with the Crown Prince and has rejected the report’s findings.
Last weekend, French President Emmanuel held face-to-face talks in Saudi Arabia with Prince Mohammed, the first major Western leader to visit the kingdom since Khashoggi’s assassination.
The suspect was arrested on Tuesday on a flight from Paris to Riyadh, sources said. It was unclear when he arrived in France and how he entered the country without sounding the alarm.
The CIC Saudi government media office did not immediately respond to a request from Reuters for information on the man being detained, whether Saudi Arabia was providing him with legal aid and the kingdom was in contact with French authorities about his release.
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