Saudi Arabia says man arrested in France has no link with Khashoggi murder case

By JeyhunAliyev

ANKARA (AA) – Saudi Arabia denied late on Tuesday that a suspected member of the hit squad that murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 in the Kingdom's Istanbul consulate was being held in France.

In a tweet citing the Saudi Foreign Ministry, the embassy in Paris called media reports on the arrest of a Saudi citizen in France on suspicion of being a suspect in the murder case "incorrect."

The person arrested has "nothing to do with the case in question," the embassy added.

Maintaining that the wrong person had been arrested, the embassy called for his release "immediately."

The Saudi courts have issued verdicts against all those involved in the "heinous murder" and they are currently serving sentences, it added.

Earlier on Tuesday, France announced the arrest of Khaled Aedh Al-Otaibi, 33, at the Charles de Gaulle Airport.

Otaibi was detained by border police as he was boarding a flight to Saudi Arabia's capital of Riyadh, according to local media citing judicial sources.

Khashoggi was brutally murdered and likely dismembered after being lured by Saudi officials to their consulate in Istanbul in October 2018.

Riyadh initially denied any role in his murder, but later sought to pin blame on what it said was a botched rendition operation.