PARIS — A man suspected of being linked to the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was arrested at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris on Tuesday, according to two officials close to the investigation.
Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, disappeared Oct. 2, 2018, after entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. His killing sparked international outrage.
One of the officials said the man, of Saudi origin, was arrested at the airport’s border control checkpoint Tuesday morning when he presented his passport to board a flight to the Saudi capital, Riyadh.
He was arrested on a warrant issued by Turkish authorities, the officials said.
They added that the man’s name is Khalid Alotaibi and he is 33 years old.
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Khashoggi, 59, was a Saudi citizen working as a Washington Post columnist when he waslured to the consulate in Istanbul and killed by a team of intelligence operatives with close ties to the crown prince. His body was dismembered in part with a bone saw, American officials have said, and the remains have never been found.
After first denying the killing, the Saudi government changed course and asserted that Khashoggi was killed by accident as the team sought to forcibly extradite him. The Saudis said the team acted on its own and that the crown prince was not involved.
Dec. 13, 201801:13
In February, a long-awaited American intelligence report concluded that the crown prince, the de facto leader of Saudi Arabia, approved the gruesome killing.
Khashoggi’s killing horrified the world and put a stop to the crown prince, who was building his image as a modernizer, wooing the globe.
The prince, an ambitious 36-year-old who has rapidly consolidated power since his father became king in 2015, said in 2019 that he took “full responsibility” for the killing since it happened on his watch but denied ordering it.
Eight men were convicted in a trial for Khashoggi’s killing in Saudi Arabia that international observers called a farce; five got the death penalty. Their sentences were commuted to 20 years after they were allegedly forgiven by Khashoggi’s relatives.
Last year, Turkey also put 20 Saudi officials on trial for the killing in absentia.
Nancy Ing reported from Paris, Yuliya Talmazan reported from London.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
