Friends of murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi hold posters bearing his picture as they attend an event marking the second-year anniversary of his assassination in front of Saudi Arabia Istanbul Consulate, on October 2, 2020. Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist, was killed and dismembered at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018, in an operation that reportedly involved 15 agents sent from Riyadh. (OZAN KOSE / AFP)
PARIS – The Saudi man arrested at a Paris airport over suspected links to the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi was released on Wednesday after officials concluded it was a case of mistaken identity, Paris prosecutors said.
French law enforcement sources on Tuesday named the man as Khaled Aedh Al-Otaibi, the same name as a former member of the Saudi Royal Guard listed in US and British sanctions documents and a UN-commissioned report as having been involved in Khashoggi's killing in Turkey.
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The Saudi Embassy in Paris had said late on Tuesday the arrested person "has nothing to do with the case in question."
Prosecutors said in a statement checks had shown that a warrant issued by Turkey, which had triggered the arrest when the man's passport was scanned during border checks, did not apply to the man arrested at the airport.
Khashoggi, a Washington Post journalist and critic of Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was last seen entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct 2, 2018. Turkish officials believe his body was dismembered and removed. His remains have not been found.
Last year, a Saudi court jailed eight people for between seven and 20 years over the killing, but none of the defendants was named. The trial was criticized by a UN official and human rights campaigners who said the masterminds of the murder remained free.
In her 2019 report for the United Nations, former UN investigator Agnes Callamard named Al-Otaibi as being part of a Saudi team that killed Khashoggi and dismembered his body before flying back to Saudi Arabia.
In this file photo taken on June 19, 2019 UN expert on summary skillings Agnes Callamard answers questions on a report of the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Geneva. (FABRICE COFFRINI / AFP)
A Saudi official told Reuters: "Media reports suggesting that a person who was implicated in the crime against Saudi citizen Jamal Khashoggi has been arrested in France are false."
A 2019 report compiled by former UN investigator Agnes Callamard said Al-Otaibi was a member of a 15-man Saudi team involved in killing Khashoggi after the journalist went to the consulate to obtain a document to allow him to marry his fiancee
"This is a case of mistaken identity. Those convicted of the crime are currently serving their sentences in Saudi Arabia."
The 2019 report compiled by Callamard said Al-Otaibi was a member of a 15-man Saudi team involved in killing Khashoggi after the journalist went to the consulate to obtain a document to allow him to marry his fiancee.
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That report said Al-Otaibi was one of five members of the team who were not in the consulate itself – where the report said the killing took place – but in the consul general's residence.
A report by Britain's Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation said Al-Otaibi was "involved in the concealment of evidence at the Saudi General Consul's residence following the killing." A US Treasury Department report named Al-Otaibi as among those involved in Khashoggi's killing.