The Saudi national arrested Tuesday, December 7 in France, suspected of being a member of the commando team involved in the assassination of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018, is not the suspect sought by Turkey, announced on Wednesday the Attorney General of Paris. He was released as Riyadh had demanded.
The man had been arrested ” on the basis of an international arrest warrant issued by the Turkish judicial authorities on November 5, 2018 in connection with the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi “, Specified the public prosecutor of Paris, Rémy Heitz in a press release.
” Thorough checks on the identity of this person established that the warrant did not apply to him ” and ” he was released “, he added.
” It’s an almost perfect disambiguation “, Explained to AFP a close to the file.
When the man presented his passport in the name of Khaled al-Otaibi when it went through control on Tuesday morning at Roissy Charles-de-Gaulle airport, the Interpol red notice was activated. He was about to take a flight to Riyadh. He was then arrested by the border police and placed in judicial detention under an international arrest warrant issued by Turkey.
Checks on his identity were carried out by the French authorities. Tuesday evening, the Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Paris assured that ” the citizen in question has no connection “With the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi and demanded his” immediate release “.
” Hundreds of Saudis ” with ” this same name “
A source belonging to the Saudi security services said Tuesday evening that ” the real Khaled al-Otaibi and all the accused in this case are imprisoned within the kingdom Saudi Arabian. ” There are hundreds of Saudis with the same name », She underlined.
Critic of Saudi power after being close to it, Jamal Khashoggi, resident in the United States and columnist for the daily Washington post, was assassinated on October 2, 2018 in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul by a team of agents from Saudi Arabia. His dismembered body has never been found.
a US intelligence report accuses Saudi crown prince Mohammed ben Salman to have ” valid ” murder. After denying the murder, Riyadh ended up saying that it was committed by Saudi agents who acted alone.
At the end an opaque trial in Saudi Arabia, five unidentified Saudis were sentenced to death and three to prison terms – death sentences have since been commuted.
(With AFP)
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