The Saudi national arrested Tuesday, December 7 at Roissy airport on suspicion of involvement in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul is a namesake, the Paris Attorney General announced on Wednesday December 8, confirming information from Figaro.
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”, Rémy Heitz said in a press release. “The in-depth verifications relating to the identity of this person made it possible to establish that the mandate did not apply to her” and “He was released”, he added.
The man arrested is called Khalid Al-Otaibi. In a 2019 United Nations investigative report, Khalid Al-Otaibi, named after a former member of the Saudi Royal Guard, is cited as a member of a commando of 15 Saudi agents sent to the Istanbul consulate on October 2, 2018 for “Execute” Khashoggi and “Conceal the evidence” of murder.
The Saudi Arabian embassy in Paris said on Tuesday evening that the person arrested “Had no connection with the case” and called for his immediate release.