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Saudi Citizen Arrested in Paris Over Jamal Khashoggi Killing Released

A Saudi man arrested in Paris on suspicion of involvement in the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi has been released, after the Paris prosecutor concluded it was a case of mistaken identity.

“Extensive checks on the identity of this person have allowed us to establish that the warrant did not apply to him,” read a statement from the prosecutor general, Rémy Heitz. “He has been released.”

The suspect, who was identified as Khalid Aedh al-Otaibi, was taken into custody on Tuesday at Paris’s Charles de Gaulle airport as he was about to board a plane to the Saudi capital, Riyadh.

According to reports, a warrant issued by Turkey, triggered the arrest. But on Wednesday, after more than 24 hours of extensive identity checks, Paris prosecutors said the man’s identity did not match the warrant and he was released. It is believed that he shared the same name as the wanted man.

On Tuesday, the Saudi Embassy in France had released a statement saying media reports were “incorrect” and “the person who was arrested has nothing to do with the case in question.”

In a statement posted on Twitter, the Embassy said it expects al-Otaibi’s “immediate release,” adding that “the Saudi judiciary has issued verdicts against all of those who participated in the heinous murder of Jamal Khashoggi, all of them are currently serving their sentences.”

Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist and a Washington Post columnist, was a strong critic of Saudi Arabia and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s policies. He was killed and allegedly dismembered on October 2, 2018, in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul by men with close ties to the highest levels of the Saudi government and bin Salman.

Al-Otaibi was one of 16 individuals banned from the United States by the State Department in April 2019 for “their roles in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.”

Also, the British government placed Al-Otaibi under sanctions in July 2020. The UK government said “he was involved in the unlawful killing of Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul … as part of the 15 man team sent to Turkey by Saudi authorities. He was involved in the concealment of evidence at the Saudi General Consul’s residence following the killing.”

Featured Image Credit: Jamal Khashoggi | The Asahi Shimbun/Getty Images

 

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Copyright 2021 SIGNAL. Permission to use portions of this article is granted provided appropriate credits are given to  www.signalng.com and other relevant sources.

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