‘Mistaken identity’: Person detained in France over Khashoggi’s murder released

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The suspect from Saudi Arabia, who had been taken into custody in Paris, France over journalist Jamal Khashoggi's killing in Turkey, was released a day later (December 8) after identity verification confirmed that he was the wrong person, a senior judicial officer has announced.

As reported by state-run Anadolu Agency (AA), Remy Heitz, the attorney general of Paris, attested the case was of mistaken identity and the person detained was a namesake of the suspect wanted by Turkey:

"Thorough checks on the identity of this person made it possible to establish that the warrant did not apply to him and he was released."

CLICK - Khashoggi murder | One of the suspects caught in Paris

The authorities in France on Tuesday detained a 33-year-old person named Khaled Aedh Al-Otaibi at Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport while he was boarding a plane to Riyadh. He was taken into custody on the basis of an Interpol warrant issued by Turkey's judicial authorities on November 5, 2018 including the same name as one of the suspects in Khashoggi's murder.

The Saudi Foreign Affairs Ministry in a statement released late on Tuesday evening demanded immediate release of the person as the "person detained has nothing to do with the case in question." It denied media reports on the detention as "incorrect" and maintained that all those involved in the "heinous murder" are currently serving sentences in Saudi Arabia.

What happened?

Journalist Khashoggi disappeared after entering the Consulate General of Saudi Arabia in Beşiktaş, İstanbul on October 2, 2018. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia officially confirmed on October 20 that the journalist was killed inside the consulate.

The İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office released a press statement on October 31, giving the following information:

"Jamal Khashoggi went to the Consulate General of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for paperwork related to his marriage on October 2, 2018. As soon as he entered the consulate building, in a premeditated murder, he was suffocated to death and his body was dismembered and destroyed."

About Jamal Khashoggi

Journalist and writer. Khashoggi was known for his opposing views about Saudi Arabia's crown prince Mohammed bin Salman. He was a columnist at the Washington Post.

After he expressed his criticism about the reforms introduced by bin Salman and drew reactions, he left Saudi Arabia in 2017 and moved to the US.

He worked as Director-General and Editor-in-Chief at the Al Arab Media Group. He was also a media consultant at the Saudi Arabia Embassy in England.

(KÖ/SD)