The man arrested, Khalid al-Otaibi, bears the same name as the former member of the Saudi Royal Guard quoted as a member of the commando who executed journalist Jamal Khashoggi, in 2018.
Saudi national arrested on Tuesday 7 December at Roissy airport for suspicions of involvement in Journalist’s murder Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul, is a homonym, announced the Attorney General of Paris, 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 as part of the murder of Journalist Jamal Khashoggi,” said Rémy Heitz in a communicated. “In-depth verifications relating to the identity of that person made it possible to establish that the mandate did not apply to it” and “it was released,” he added.
The man arrested is called Khalid al-Otaiibi. In a United Nations inquiry report published in 2019, 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. October 2, 2018 to “execute” Khashoggi and “conceal the evidence” of murder.
The Saudi Arabia Embassy in Paris said Tuesday night that the person arrested “had no connection with the case” and claimed his immediate release.