French police have arrested a Saudi man believed to have played a role in the 2018 assassination of Jamal Khashoggi, a journalist murdered for his criticism of the Saudi regime.
Khalid Aedh al-Otaibi was detained at Charles-de-Gaulle airport in Paris on Tuesday. The 33-year-old former Saudi royal guard was attempting to board a flight to his home country.
The Washington Post reports:
Otaibi was allegedly part of a 15-member team sent to execute the grisly murder of Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2, 2018. Khashoggi had become a target after voicing criticism of the young Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and had entered the consulate to obtain legal paperwork, believing he was safe in Turkey.
The Guardian adds:
The arrest came days after the French president, Emmanuel Macron, visited the United Arab Emirates and met the Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has been accused of ordering the murder of Khashoggi, a former columnist for Middle East Eye and the Washington Post and fierce critic of the Saudi regime.
A United Nations investigation and US intelligence agencies both concluded that the operation was almost certainly signed off by the crown prince. Riyadh denies Prince Mohammed had any knowledge of the plot or its botched cover-up.
Agnès Callamard, who led the UN investigation, called the arrest a “major breakthrough,” according to The Guardian. She said Otaibi could lead police to the location of Khashoggi’s dismember body.
“The fact that he may have been involved in the killing should not detract us from focusing on the mastermind. It is great that the hit men are maybe paying for their crimes, but it is not enough. We need the mastermind,” she added.
The BBC adds:
A Saudi court convicted eight unnamed people over the murder in 2019. Five of them were found guilty of directly participating in the killing and handed death sentences that were later commuted to 20-year prison terms, while three others were jailed for seven to 10 years for covering up the crime.
The Saudi trial was dismissed as “the antithesis of justice” by then-UN Special Rapporteur Agnès Callamard, who concluded that Khashoggi was “the victim of a deliberate, premeditated execution”.