Saudi Arabia rules out extraditing suspects in Khashoggi case
Saudi Arabia's foreign minister on Sunday rejected demands to extradite suspects connected to the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi as sought by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. "We do not extradite our citizens. It's interesting to me that a country that would not provide us with information within a legal format... would issue arrest warrants," Adel al-Jubeir told a news conference at the end of a summit of Gulf Cooperation Council states.
- World
- Reuters
- Published Date: 12:00 | 09 December 2018
- Modified Date: 09:03 | 09 December 2018
Saudi Arabia's foreign minister on Sunday ruled out the extradition of suspects in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, after Istanbul's chief prosecutor filed warrants for the arrest of two former senior Saudi officials.
Turkish officials said last week that the prosecutor's office had concluded there was "strong suspicion" that Saud al-Qahtani, a top aide to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and General Ahmed al-Asiri, who served as deputy head of foreign intelligence, were among the planners of Khashoggi's Oct. 2 killing at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
"We don't extradite our citizens," Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said when asked about the arrest warrants. He was speaking at a news conference at a Gulf Arab summit in Riyadh.
Last month, the U.S. Treasury sanctioned 17 Saudis, including Qahtani but not Asiri, for their role in Khashoggi's murder.
The Saudi public prosecutor has said the order to repatriate Khashoggi came from Asiri and that a travel ban has been imposed on Qahtani. Jubeir declined to confirm or deny whether the men were currently detained, referring the question to the Saudi public prosecutor.