Khashoggi murder suspect is arrested in France: Former member of Saudi Royal Guard is held while waiting to board a flight to Riyadh

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One of the suspected killers of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi has been arrested by French police.

Khalid Al-Otaibi was detained at Charles de Gaulle airport near Paris today as he prepared to board a flight to Riyadh after border police acted on a warrant issued by Turkey in 2019.

The suspect, 33, was a former Royal Guard of Saudi Arabia who is believed to have been part of the team that murdered Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018. 

He was on the Interpol red list but was travelling under his real name.

He will appear before a judge within hours where he will be offered the choice of being flown to Turkey or contesting his warrant and awaiting extradition in custody.

The arrest will now likely spark a diplomatic row as authorities in France and Turkey both try to keep him out of Saudi Arabia's clutches so he can face justice.

Khalid Al-Otaibi (circled at Istanbul airport just before the killing alongside other suspects) has been arrested by French police

A Saudi passport (pictured) held by a man with the same name was allegedly used to enter the US on three occasions on trips coinciding with Saudi royals

One of the suspected killers of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi (pictured) has been arrested by French police

Alotaibi is said to have been part of a team that killed and them dismembered Khashoggi for voicing criticism of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The arrest marks the first time that anyone accused of taking part in the state-sponsored execution has been arrested outside of Saudi Arabia.

Alotaibi has frequently been named as one of the ‘commando group’ that was inside the Saudi Arabia consulate at the time of Khashoggi’s death.

French judges will give him the option of flying to Turkey immediately, or else contesting the arrest warrant and being placed in police custody awaiting extradition.

A Saudi passport held by a man with the same name was allegedly used to enter the US on three occasions on trips coinciding with Saudi royals.

He was then present in Istanbul at the time of the slaying, flying to the Turkish capital on a commercial flight before staying at the Wyndham Grand hotel, the Washington Post reported. 

He was named among 17 people sanctioned by the US for their role in the murder.

A Turkish court in 2020 began to try in absentia 20 suspects over the murder of Khashoggi, including two former aides to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Turkish prosecutors then indicted six more Saudi suspects over the killing later that year, but no Saudi official has ever faced justice in person in Turkey over the killing.

In September 2020, a Saudi court overturned five death sentences issued after a closed-door trial in Saudi Arabia, sentencing them to 20 years in prison instead.

Khashoggi is seen entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on the day of his killing

Agnès Callamard, the former UN special rapporteur of extrajudicial killings, investigated the Khashoggi murder and described Alotaibi as Prince Mohammed’s former bodyguard.

Alotaibi accompanied the Prince on his 2017 trip to America, and he was provably inside the Saudi consul general’s residence at the time of the murder.

He is suspected of handling the bags in which pieces of Khashoggi’s body were brought from the Saudi consulate to the residence.

Ms Callamard, who is now secretary general of Amnesty International, said: ‘If he is the official I have identified in my report, and he was located in the residence, then I think he would be one of those who could provide information on the location of the body.’

Some 17 Saudi officials were later tried in their own country over Khashoggi’s death, but this legal process was described as ‘a sham’ by Ms Callamard.

French President Emmanuel Macron has just returned from a trip to United Arab Emirates, where he met Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

A United Nations investigation has agreed with U.S. intelligence agencies that Khashoggi’s murder was agreed by the Crown Prince, but he denies any knowledge of the plot. 

Today's arrest comes just days after Emmanuel Macron flew to the UAE to meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman

Khashoggi had entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018 to file paperwork to marry his Turkish fiancee.

According to US and Turkish officials, a waiting Saudi hit squad strangled him and dismembered his body, which has never been retrieved.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said the order to murder Khashoggi came from 'the highest levels' of the Saudi government and the case led to tensions between Ankara and Riyadh. 

But Erdogan has never directly blamed Prince Mohammed and there have in recent months been signs of the thaw between Turkey and Saudi Arabia, with the Turkish foreign minister visiting Riyadh earlier this year in a bid to mend ties.

Crucially there have also been signs after many years of tensions in the wake of the 2016 failed coup bid of a thaw between Turkey and Saudi Arabia's top ally the United Arab Emirates, with Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed visiting Turkey last month.

The journalist had once been close to the Saudi royal family but before his death had written critical pieces in the Washington Post about Mohammed bin Salman (pictured) and his policies

Today's arrest comes just days after Emmanuel Macron flew to the UAE to meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Khashoggi, a prominent Saudi who lived in self-exile in the United States and wrote for The Washington Post, was strangled by a hit squad in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, and his body dismembered.  

The journalist had once been close to the Saudi royal family but before his death had written critical pieces in the Washington Post about bin Salman and his policies.  

The crown prince came under worldwide suspicion over Khashoggi's death and a UN investigator's report in 2019 said there was credible evidence of his involvement. 

Joe Biden's administration released a declassified report by intelligence earlier this year that concluded bin Salman 'approved' the operation – but took no action against the crown prince himself.

The ruler has denied involvement in the murder but Riyadh eventually admitted that Khashoggi was killed in a 'rogue' extradition operation gone wrong.

Five men were given the death penalty for the journalist's murder but had their sentences commuted to 20 years in prison after being forgiven by Khashoggi's family.