France Frees Saudi Arrested over Khashoggi killing

The Saudi man arrested on Tuesday 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 U.S. and British sanctions documents and a U.N.-commissioned report as having been involved in Khashoggi’s killing in Turkey.

The Saudi Embassy in Paris had said late on Tuesday the arrested person ”has nothing to do with the case in question.”

Prosecutors said 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.

”Extensive checks on the identity of this person showed that the warrant did not apply to him... he was released,” the statement from the prosecutor’s office said.