The French police reported this Tuesday the arrest of a Saudi man suspected of being involved in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Khaled Aedh Alotaibi was arrested at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, a police source confirmed to the BBC.
Alotaibi, a former Saudi royal guard from 27 years, he was traveling under his own name and was placed in judicial detention, he said RTL radio.
Believed to be one of the 26 men wanted by Turkey by the assassination of Washington Post columnist at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018.
Saudi Arabia, which first denied the facts, then said that the journalist had been murdered in a “ dishonest operation ” at the hands of a team of agents sent to persuade
However, Turkish intelligence assures that the agents acted under orders from the highest levels of the Saudi government.
The murder caused a global scandal and damaged the image of the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has denied any role in the death of the columnist.
A Saudi official on Tuesday considered that the The arrest in France was a case of mistaken identity and that those involved in the murder had been convicted in their country.
A Saudi court convicted eight unidentified people of the murder in 2018.
Five of them were found guilty of participating directly in the murder and handed down sentences of death against them that were later commuted by 20 years in prison.
Meanwhile, the other three received sentences from seven to 10 years for covering up the crime.
The Saudi trial was qualified as “ the antithesis of justice ”by the then UN Special Rapporteur, Agnès Callamard.
The death of Khashoggi
In a damning report published in 2018, Callamard concluded that Khashoggi was “victim of a deliberate and premeditated execution” for which the Saudi state was responsible.
Tuesday’s arrest comes just days after French President Emmanuel Macron became the first Western leader to meet with the Saudi crown prince since Khashoggi’s assassination.
“We talk about absolutely everything, without no taboo and obviously we were able to raise the issue of human rights, “Macron told the journalists on Saturday.
What about the suspect?
Callamard’s report says Saudi prosecutors ordered Alotaibi’s arrest as part of an investigation into Khashoggi’s murder, but ultimately decided not to charge him.
The report named Alotaibi as a member of the Royal Guard, a unit of the Saudi Arabian military forces.
The man was seen in the presence of Crown Prince Salman during a visit to the United States in 2017, according The report.
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The document indicates that Alotaibi arrived in Istanbul on October 2, 2018 and that it was inside the residence of the Saudi consul general during the assassination of Khashoggi.
Saudi Arabia had rejected a request to extradite Alotaibi to Turkey, where he is being tried in absentia in Istanbul on a murder charge.
But on Tuesday, a police source confirmed that French authorities had executed the arrest warrant Turkey.
Alotaibi was arrested when he was about to embroider a flight to Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia.
Callamard, who is now Secretary General of Amnesty International, said in a tweet that the arrest “could be a major advance in the search for justice ”
Hatice Cengiz, Khashoggi’s fiancee at the time of his murder, welcomed the arrest and urged France to“ try him for his crime or extradite him to a country capable and willing ”to do it.
Analysis by Frank Gardner, BBC Security Correspondent
This The latest event after Khashoggi’s assassination will not be very welcome in Riyadh. At the same time, it potentially offers a breakthrough in the unfinished investigation requested by the former UN Special Rapporteur and human rights groups.
As far as the Saudis are concerned, this story ended long ago. when they brought several minor figures to trial. This, they say, was a “rogue operation” and everyone involved has now been prosecuted.
But Turkey, who bugged the Saudi consulate in Istanbul where the murder took place and therefore , has an intimate knowledge of what happened inside, has accused more than 20 Saudis in absentia.
Western intelligence officials also believe that the most important instigators of this planned assassination have escaped with impunity.
If the suspect arrested in France is transferred to Turkey to be tried, an intense diplomatic dispute is likely to break out.
How did Jamal Khashoggi die?
The journalist of 38 years, who went into exile in the US in 2017, f Last seen entering the Saudi Consulate on October 2, 2018.
He was trying to get the documents he needed to marry his girlfriend.
She accompanied him to the entrance of the consulate and waited more than 10 hours outside the building to Khashoggi, who never came out again.
In his report, Callamard concluded that the journalist was “brutally murdered” inside the consulate that day.
The then rapporteur arrived to that conclusion after listening to alleged audio recordings of conversations within the consulate made by Turkish intelligence.
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