Suspect held in Khashoggi assassination

French police arrested a Saudi man Tuesday in connection with the assassination of dissident writer Jamal Khashoggi, but French authorities warned that they were still verifying his identity.

A French judicial official confirmed that the man, identified as Khalid Alotaibi, 33, was arrested at the Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport north of Paris on the basis of an international arrest warrant issued by Turkey, just before he was to board a flight for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

A man by that name is accused of being a member of the team that killed Khashoggi inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in 2018.

The arrest could reignite the international intrigue caused by the killing at a time when Saudi Arabia and its de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, are seeking to leave it behind and rebuild their international reputation.

A Saudi official, however, said the arrest was a case of mistaken identity.

“Media reports suggesting that a person who was implicated in the crime against Saudi citizen Jamal Khashoggi has been arrested in France are false,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity per Saudi rules. “Those convicted of the crime are currently serving their sentences in Saudi Arabia.”

If the man arrested turns out to be the suspect, France could extradite him to Turkey to face charges there.

A Turkish trial of the suspects has been proceeding slowly, primarily because Saudi Arabia has refused to hand over any of the accused. If Alotaibi ends up in the dock in Turkey, he would be the first suspect to be tried in person outside of Saudi Arabia.