According to a French court official, a suspect in the 2018 murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was apprehended in France on Tuesday.
According to the official, the suspect is being held on a Turkish arrest warrant. In accordance with the typical traditions of the French legal system, he demanded anonymity.
The Saudi national, Khalid Aedh al-Otaibi, was detained at the Roissy airport in Paris as he attempted to board a trip to Riyadh, according to French radio RTL.
Over a dozen Saudi officials were sanctioned by the US Treasury in 2018 as a result of Khashoggi’s murder and dismemberment at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.
In a declassified US intelligence report, he was also identified as having “authorised” the operation that killed Khashoggi. His surname was written in an alternate English transliteration in the report.
The imprisoned guy “had nothing to do with the matter in question,” according to the Saudi Embassy in Paris, which expects his swift release. It was noted that Saudi Arabia had already held a trial over the killing, though it was held behind closed doors, and the verdicts were criticised by rights groups and others for failing to hold those responsible for organising, ordering, or overseeing the operation that killed Khashoggi accountable or finding them guilty.
On Tuesday evening, French authorities were confirming the suspect’s identification.
Christophe Deloire, the director of the media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF), expressed delight at the news.
“Governments sometimes turn a blind eye to those who are being sought by justice in another country. I’m relieved to see that there was an arrest and that the cops didn’t close their eyes this time “According to the Associated Press, he said.
“We have been following Al-Otaibi for a long time,” Deloire remarked. RSF has pressured several nations for justice in the matter of Khashoggi’s murder, and has filed a lawsuit in Germany for crimes against humanity.
Turkey has made no immediate statement on the arrest.
According to French media, the suspect will be informed of the arrest warrant by a prosecutor on Wednesday. He has the option of accepting or rejecting the transfer to Turkey. If he refuses, a judge will decide whether he should be held in detention while the matter is reviewed and an extradition process is considered, which could take months.
The arrest has place as Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman starts his first Gulf tour since the assassination. He flew from Oman to the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday.
On Saturday, the prince met with French President Emmanuel Macron in Saudi Arabia. Macron stated that they discussed human rights issues in particular.
The arrest of the suspect, if verified, is “a very critical first step for justice for Jamal…Justice must be allowed to take its proper course,” Hatice Cengiz, Jamal Khashoggi’s girlfriend, said in a statement. Most crucially, those who carried out the plot must not be used to hide those much higher up, including the Crown Prince himself, who gave the order for Jamal’s horrible assassination. They must be apprehended and prosecuted as well.”
“If all of this is accurate, this is the first step,” Abdullah Alaoudh, director of Gulf issues at DAWN, a US-based group founded by Khashoggi to defend democracy and rule of law in the Arab world, said. Salman Aloudah, a well-known Islamic scholar, is among those arrested in the country under the crown prince since 2017. He was apprehended immediately after a tweet that was seen as critical of the Saudi blockade against Qatar at the time—a feud that has now resolved.
The arrest comes as the crown prince attempts to shake off a mark on his worldwide reputation by courting big-name Western investors and celebrities.
Human rights campaigners have asked celebrities and athletes to boycott Saudi Arabian events, claiming that they serve to distract from the country’s assault on critics and that such events are only held with the crown prince’s agreement. Despite Khashoggi’s fiancee’s request that he not attend in protest, the country conducted its first ever Formula One race this week, with pop singer Justin Bieber performing. Meanwhile, celebrities such as Hillary Swank and Catherine Deneuve were pictured on the red carpet in Jiddah on Monday for the kingdom’s first Red Sea International Film Festival.
After Saudi Arabia refused to extradite them and Turkish officials annulled a trial against some of the suspects that was held behind closed doors in Riyadh, Turkey began trying 26 Saudi nationals in absentia for Khashoggi’s murder last year.
However, at the most recent hearing in November, the Istanbul court ordered that the Ministry of Justice contact authorities in Saudi Arabia to see if they had been convicted there, in order to avoid them being tried for the same offence.
The arrest in Paris comes as Turkey tries to mend its strained ties with the Kingdom and other Arab countries at a time when its economy is in free fall.
On October 2, 2018, Khashoggi was assassinated after entering the consulate to obtain documents that would let him to marry his Turkish girlfriend, who was waiting outside. According to Turkish officials, Khashoggi was slain by a team of Saudi agents and then dismembered with a bone saw after writing critical articles about Saudi Arabia’s crown prince for The Washington Post.
Under considerable international pressure, the Saudi authorities acknowledged to the murder.
Independent media were not allowed to observe the Saudi court sessions, which were only open to a few Western diplomats.
Khashoggi’s family later announced that they had forgiven his assailants.