There will be no diplomatic crisis between Paris and Riyadh. The Saudi national arrested Tuesday, December 7, by the border police (PAF) at Roissy airport was released on Wednesday and returned to his country. After verifications, the individual turned out to be a simple namesake of a Saudi wanted for his involvement in the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, perpetrated in October 2018, in the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul.
According to a Saudi source, interviewed by The world, this man, called Khaled Aedh Al-Otaibi, had arrived a week earlier in France, in the company of a friend, as part of a pleasure trip. It was during his passage through the Roissy passport control counter, as he was about to take his return flight to Riyadh, that he drew the attention of the PAF.
The Turkish authorities in fact issued, on November 5, 2018, an international arrest warrant against fifteen Saudi agents sent to Istanbul to kill Mr. Khashoggi and get rid of his body. Among them was a certain Khaled Aedh Al-Otaibi, a member of the Saudi Royal Guard. In the process, Interpol had issued a red notice in the name of each member of this commando.
Relief at the Elysee
It is on this basis that the Saudi tourist was placed in judicial detention. According to a source close to the matter, quoted by AFP, “The cross-checked search cards corresponded to the profile of Al-Otaibi, same month, year and place of birth. There was a physical resemblance ”, added the source, adding that “It was the judicial evidence from Turkey that freed this man”.
This story does not allow us to understand how the latter was able to land at Roissy, a week earlier, without triggering an identical alert. According to the Saudi source of World, he had already gone to France, in 2019, so after the issuance of the red notice, again without being worried.
The announcement of the mistake was probably greeted with relief by the Elysee. The opposite scenario would have placed President Macron in an untenable situation vis-à-vis the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed Ben Salman, three days after their meeting in Jeddah, in the west of the kingdom. The visit was criticized by human rights organizations, which accused the head of state of “Rehabilitate” the one the CIA accuses of having “validated” the murder of Mr. Khashoggi.
This outcome also suits Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The Turkish president, who used the Khashoggi scandal in 2018-2019 to destabilize Mohammed Ben Salman with whom he was at loggerheads, is now seeking to get closer to the strong man of Riyadh.