Arrested suspect with no connection to journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s murder: Saudi Embassy in Paris

Journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018. (File)

Paris:

The Saudi embassy in Paris said on Tuesday that a Saudi citizen arrested as a suspect in the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi has nothing to do with the case.

French police earlier on Tuesday arrested a man suspected of being a member of the Khashoggi killing team at the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul, and investigators are looking to confirm that the man passport holder Khalid Alotaibi is indeed the man being sought. in connection with the gruesome murder.

“The person arrested has nothing to do with the case in question,” the embassy said in a statement. “Therefore, the kingdom’s embassy expects his immediate release.”

The embassy said that Saudi Arabia’s judicial authorities had issued judgments against “all those involved in the brutal murder of Jamal Khashoggi” and that they were serving their sentences.

In September 2020, a Saudi court overturned five death sentences handed down after a closed-door trial in Saudi Arabia, sentenced the defendant to 20 years in prison.

On the French side, meanwhile, checks were still underway on Tuesday night to make sure that police were holding the right man, a source close to the case said, noting that the detention was not over. keep him can last up to 48 hours.

(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from an aggregated feed.)