France on Wednesday released a Saudi national arrested at Paris airport over suspected links to the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, after authorities concluded it was a case of mistaken identity.
French law enforcement sources identified the detained man as Khalid ed al-Otaibi, the same name listed in US and British sanctions documents as a former member of the Saudi Royal Guard and in a UN-commissioned report. as being involved in Khashoggi’s murder. Turkey.
The Saudi embassy in Paris said late Tuesday that the man arrested had “nothing to do with the case.”
Reading: Khashoggi killed, dismembered on orders of Saudi Crown Prince: Report
Prosecutors said the check showed that a warrant issued by Turkey, which triggered the arrest when the man’s passport was scanned during a border check, did not apply to a person arrested at the airport.
“A comprehensive investigation into the identity of this person has revealed that the warrant did not apply to him … he was released,” the statement from the prosecutor’s office said.
Khashoggi, a Washington Post journalist and critic of Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown 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. His remains have not been found.
A senior French police officer said he was shocked by the incidents. The man caught overnight made several European trips over the past months and entered France in November without issue, he said, requesting anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
File photo of Jamal Khashoggi | Getty Images
When news of the arrests first broke in Paris, rights groups and Khashoggi’s fiancé expressed relief that such a high-profile suspect had been caught.
A 2019 UN investigation report said that al-Otaabi was a member of the 15-member Saudi team involved in Khashoggi’s murder when the journalist appeared at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul for permission to marry his fiancée. went to get it.
The arrests came at a sensitive time for the countries involved.
President Emmanuel Macron had become the first major Western leader to hold face-to-face talks with Prince Mohammed, a major buyer of French arms, since Khashoggi’s assassination a few days earlier.
Macron sees Saudi Arabia as vital in helping to reach a region-wide peace deal with Iran, as well as an ally in the fight against Islamist militants from the Middle East to West Africa and a rampage against the Muslim Brotherhood.
Turkey initially sought to put international pressure on Prince Mohammed after Khashoggi’s assassination, saying the order came from the highest levels of the Saudi government, but Ankara has recently appeared in favor of improving relations.