Was Arrested Because He Was Suspected Of Being Involved In The Murder Of Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi Man Is On Vacation In France

Illustration of the struggle for justice for the late Jamal Kashoggi. (Wikimedia Commons /April Brady/Project on Middle East Democracy)

JAKARTA - The Saudi Arabian national who was arrested in Paris, France this week on suspicion of involvement in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, was just a tourist on vacation with his friend, an official familiar with the investigation said.

After returning to the kingdom, the man gave an interview to Saudi Arabia's Al Ekhbariya television which aired on Thursday.

"They put me in a room, it had a lot of glass like the ones used for criminals to observe them and there was no proper ventilation," said the man, wearing a black sweater and black hat.

"Through the mirror, they watched me as if I were an animal in a zoo," said the man who was released last Wednesday.

The man was detained after his passport was scanned while passing through immigration at the French capital's main international airport, on his way overseas. The official said the man was traveling on a valid visa.

Troubled, the man has the same nationality, given name, surname year of birth as Khaled Aedh Al-Otaibi, a former member of the Saudi Royal Guard identified on US and UK sanctions lists, as well as a UN Commission report, as implicated in Khashoggi's murder in 2018.

But the patronymic name of the detained man is different from that of the suspect Al-Otaibi, who is also wanted by Turkey on an international arrest warrant. So did his passport number, said the official and a police source.

The Turkish warrant stated the year of birth but not the day and month, neither of which matched, the two sources said.

However, the resemblance was enough for a passport scan to alert border police of a possible identity match to the person wanted.

An algorithm is used to compile the details in the passport and match them to those detailed in the warrant. If there is a certain level of match, a notification issued by the system lets border officials know further checks are needed, the police source said.

In the interview, the man revealed that initially the French authorities did not give him permission to contact the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Paris.

"I told them I wanted to talk to the embassy but they wouldn't let me. I have the ambassador's personal number, but they won't let me use my cell phone," he said.

Eventually, French authorities allowed him to take incoming calls from the embassy, informing him that his case was being handled, he added.

Meanwhile, the French Interior Ministry and the national police declined to comment on the issue of mistaken identity.

Separately, an unclassified US intelligence analysis released in February said Saudi de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved the operation to arrest or kill Khashoggi.

However, the Saudi Arabian government has denied the crown prince's involvement and rejected the report's findings.

To note, Khashoggi, a journalist and critic of the prince, was last seen entering the Saudi Arabian Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey on October 2, 2018. Turkish officials believe his body was dismembered and removed. His body has not been found.