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Saudi Arabia says France arrested wrong man over Khashoggi murder
French police arrested a man suspected of involvement in the 2018 murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, but Saudi officials claimed that they were holding the wrong man.
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This file photo taken on December 15, 2014 shows then general manager of Alarab TV, Jamal Khashoggi looking on during a press conference in the Bahraini capital Manama, on December 15, 2014. (AFP/Mohammed Al-Shaikh)
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rench police on Tuesday arrested a man suspected of involvement in the 2018 murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, but Saudi officials claimed that they were holding the wrong man.
Investigators were seeking to confirm that the man carrying a passport in the name of Khalid Alotaibi was indeed the suspect by the same name sought by Turkey and sanctioned by the US over the gruesome killing of Khashoggi that unleashed a wave of global anger.
The Saudi embassy in Paris issued a statement late Tuesday saying the man arrested "has nothing to do with the case in question" and demanded his immediate release.
A security source in Saudi Arabia added that "Khaled Alotaibi" was a very common name in the kingdom, and that the Alotaibi the French thought they were holding was actually serving time in prison in Saudi Arabia along with "all the defendants in the case".
The man was detained by border police on the basis of an arrest warrant issued by Turkey as he was about to board a flight to Riyadh from Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport, judicial and airport sources told AFP, asking not to be named.
A man named Khalid Alotaibi is one of 26 Saudis charged in absentia by Turkey over the killing in a trial that got underway in October 2020. If convicted, he could face life imprisonment.
Two of the 26 being tried in absentia in Turkey are former aides to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. No Saudi official has ever faced justice in person in Turkey for the killing.
