Saudi Arabia Refuses to Extradite Khashoggi Suspects to Turkey

Saudi Arabia will not be extraditing its suspects being investigated for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi Foreign Minister Abdel al-Jubeir said Sunday.

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The Saudi Arabian officials have remained resolute, despite the pair arrest warrants filed by Turkish prosecutors against Saud al-Qahtani, the former top-aide to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and General Ahmed al-Asiri, ex-head of foreign intelligence.

“We don’t extradite our citizens,” Al-Jubeir said during a news conference at a Gulf Arab summit in Riyadh.

Tuesday, United States senators declared, following a classified briefing with the Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA) Director Gina Haspel, that they are certain the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the murder of the Washington Post journalist.

“If the crown prince went in front of a jury he would be convicted in 30 minutes,” Bob Corker, the Republican chair of the Senate foreign relations committee, told journalists.

The CIA, earlier, had concluded that the Crown Prince ordered Khashoggi's killing at the Istanbul consulate, on October 2. But, President Donald Trump prioritized U.S.-Saudi relations, saying the ties between the countries were too important to casually pursue findings of the investigation.

Last month, the U.S. Treasury sanctioned 17 Saudis, including Qahtani but not Asiri, for their role in Khashoggi’s murder. Saudi Arabia initiated the death penalty against five of the 11 of those indicted in Khashoggi’s murder, but no court action has been confirmed yet.