Saudi Arabia refuses to extradite suspect in Khashoggi's murder
Saudi Arabia's foreign minister on December 9 ruled out the possibility of extraditing suspects in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi to Türkiye.
Last week, Turkish officials said the prosecutor's office had concluded that there was a high possibility that Saud al-Qahtani, a top aide to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and Ahmed al-Asiri, a former deputy head of Saudi Arabia's foreign intelligence agency, were among the masterminds of Khashoggi's October 2 murder at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
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| Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir. Photo: Reuters |
“We will not extradite our citizens,” Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said at a press conference on the sidelines of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Summit in Riyadh.
Last month, the US Treasury Department sanctioned 17 Saudi individuals, including Qahtani but not Asirri, for their role in the Khashoggi killing.
Saudi prosecutors said the order to bring Khashoggi back came from Asiri and that a travel ban had also been placed on Qahtani. However, Foreign Minister Jubeir did not confirm whether these people were in custody.