The Saudi man arrested on Tuesday at a Paris airport over suspected links to the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi was released on Wednesday after officials concluded it was a case of mistaken identity, Paris prosecutors said.

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French law enforcement sources on Tuesday named the man as Khaled Aedh Al-Otaibi, the same name as a former member of the Saudi Royal Guard listed in US and British sanctions documents and a UN-commissioned report as having been involved in Khashoggi's killing in Turkey.

The Saudi Embassy in Paris had said late on Tuesday the arrested person "has nothing to do with the case in question."

Prosecutors said checks had shown that a warrant issued by Turkey, which had triggered the arrest when the man's passport was scanned during border checks, did not apply to the man arrested at the airport.

"Extensive checks on the identity of this person showed that the warrant did not apply to him... he was released," the statement from the prosecutor's office said.

Khashoggi, a Washington Post journalist and critic of Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was last seen entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2, 2018. Turkish officials believe his body was dismembered and removed. His remains have not been found.

News of the arrest – when it was thought he was indeed the man sought by Turkey – had triggered a wave of reactions, with rights groups and Khashoggi's fiancee expressing relief that such a high-profile suspect would be judged.

A 2019 UN investigation report said Al-Otaibi was a member of a 15-man Saudi team involved in killing Khashoggi after the journalist went to the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul to obtain a document to allow him to marry his fiancee.

The arrest had come at a sensitive time, just days after French President Emmanuel Macron held face-to-face talks in Saudi Arabia with Prince Mohammed, becoming the first major Western leader to visit the kingdom since Khashoggi's murder.

Macron considers Saudi Arabia vital to help forge a region-wide peace deal with Iran, as well as an ally in the fight against Islamist militants from the Middle East to West Africa, and a rampart against the Muslim Brotherhood.

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A US intelligence report released Friday concluded Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman authorized either the kidnapping or assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018.

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The details of the report, which have been reported in the past, are based on circumstantial evidence.

So, for example, the report bases its assessment on the crown prince's control of the decision-making process in the kingdom, the direct involvement of his adviser Saud al-Qahtani and members of the royal security system in the killing, and his support for the use of violent means to silence opponents of the regime overseas.

It seems US President Joe Biden's administration could have sufficed with a public condemnation to placate the Democratic party's puritanical wing, a wing that is nevertheless less puritanical when it comes to Iran.

Yet the US secretary went even further. In a statement that followed, Antony Blinken announced a "Khashoggi Ban" that would allow the White House to impose visa restrictions on figures who act "on behalf of a foreign government, are believed to have been directly engaged in serious, extraterritorial counter-dissident activities, including those that suppress, harass, surveil, threaten, or harm journalists, activists, or other persons perceived to be dissidents for their work, or who engage in such activities with respect to the families or other close associates of such persons."

The ban, which went into immediate effect, was imposed on 76 Saudis the US believes were involved in threatening opponents of the regime, including Khashoggi, overseas. As a result, the US Treasury will sanction former Saudi intelligence official Ahmad Asiri, bin Salman's guards, and members of the elite Saudi unit known as the "Tiger Squad," among others. Asked why no sanctions were imposed on the crown prince himself, Blinken replied that the US was interested in recalibrating and not cutting off its Saudi ties.

Anyone who has followed the Saudi arena and its ties with the US since Biden entered office might, however, view this move as Washington once again turning its back on a central ally in the name of serving as a beacon of liberal values. Yet US officials would be hard-pressed to find a more liberal alternative to bin Salman in Riyadh.

Nevertheless, the Biden administration has not sufficed with taking the Houthi rebels off the US's terrorist list, saying it intends to halt support for the Saudi coalition in the war in Yemen, and hopes for a return to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. Now, it has imposed sanctions on members of the Saudi regime.

From Riyadh's standpoint, this is even more insulting given its recent efforts to appease the Biden White House. Political activists, most prominent among them Loujain al-Hathloul, have been released from prison, and the kingdom announced its intention to implement a series of judicial reforms. In addition, Riyadh made extreme concessions to reach a reconciliation with and remove its blockade of Qatar despite the Gulf state failing to meet any of the demands laid out by boycotting parties three years prior.

At the same time, Iran has increased its provocations against the kingdom. The Houthis in Yemen ramped up their drone attacks, damaging a passenger airplane at an airport in southern Saudi Arabia. The ayatollahs last month went even farther when, according to an Associated Press report, drones, whose Iranian components were put together in Iraq, were launched by Shia militias on the Iraqi border, toward Riyadh, ultimately crashing in the vicinity of the Saudi royal palace.

Saudi Arabia may have rejected the US statement, which it called "false and unacceptable," as well as any move that would impact its leadership, sovereignty, or the independence of its judicial system.  The Saudi Foreign Ministry claimed the US intelligence report contained "inaccurate information and conclusions." It also once again distanced itself from the "group of individuals" it said had acted in violation of all regulations and authorities and emphasized the kingdom had taken steps to prosecute and sentence those involved within the framework of its judicial system.

Yet the Saudi Foreign Ministry didn't completely shut the door on the US, instead emphasizing the partnership between Riyadh and Washington was "robust and enduring."

Toward the end of former US President Donald Trump's term in office, Israel Hayom reported the crown prince faced a dilemma as to whether to normalize ties with Israel. On one hand, the window of opportunity to do so was closing, while the move was met with opposition from the kingdom's more conservative members, chief among them Saudi King Salman, who has continued to support the Saudi peace initiative. On the other hand, it was unclear what bin Salman had to gain under the Biden administration that he couldn't have achieved under Trump.

Given the impasse in Israel-Palestinian talks, the Arab initiative still seems irrelevant. Israel is not expected to see the formation of a left-wing coalition following the coming March 23 election. And even in the shadow of the coronavirus, the Palestinians do not appear to be very interested in forging closer ties. Elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council, to be held on May 22, could end in a victory for Hamas that sees the terror group gain a foothold in the Palestinian Authority.

Against this background, bin Salman appears to have missed the train to normalization. He continues to face opposition from the kingdom's conservative wing, has zero chance of being able to sponsor a political process between Ramallah and Jerusalem, and whatever he could have achieved under Trump is no longer on the table.

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The United States has pledged to tell the world its conclusions on what role Saudi Arabia's crown prince played in the brutal killing and dismembering of a US-based journalist, but as important is what comes next — what the Biden administration plans to do about it.

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Ahead of the release of the declassified US intelligence report, and announcement of any US punitive measures, US President Joe Biden spoke to Saudi King Salman on Thursday for the first time since taking office more than a month ago. It was a later-than-usual courtesy call to the Middle East ally, timing seen as reflecting Biden's displeasure. Still, a White House readout made no mention of the killing or the report.

The conversation was overshadowed by the expected imminent release of findings on whether the king's son approved the Oct. 2, 2018, killing of Jamal Khashoggi, a critic of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's authoritarian consolidation of power, inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. US intelligence agencies concluded in 2018 that the prince likely ordered the killing, a finding reported by news media but never officially released.

The White House said Biden on Thursday discussed with King Salman the two countries' "longstanding partnership" and welcomed the kingdom's recent releases of an advocate for women's rights and some of its other political detainees.

The language came in contrast to Biden's pledge as a candidate to make Saudi Arabia "a pariah" over the killing. The White House offered no immediate explanation for his milder tone with the king.

The kingdom's state-run Saudi Press Agency similarly did not mention Khashoggi's killing in a report about the call between Biden and King Salman, instead focusing on regional issues such as Iran and the ongoing war in Yemen.

The king and Biden stressed "the depth of the relationship between the two countries and the importance of strengthening the partnership between them to serve their interests and achieve security and stability in the region and the world," the report said.

The prince's critics, including a rights group founded by the slain journalist, want him to make good on that pledge with sanctions or other tough actions targeting and isolating the prince. They fear Biden will go with condemnation instead, eschewing a lasting standoff with the likely future ruler of an important, but often difficult, US strategic ally, valued both for its oil reserves and its status as a counterbalance to Iran in the Middle East.

The killing drew bipartisan outrage. Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas said Thursday that he hopes Biden talks to the king "very straight about it, and very emphatically, and says that this is not acceptable." Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia said he understood the administration to be considering new sanctions to accompany release of the report. "So it's a day of reckoning, but one that's long overdue."

The report's findings, and Biden's resulting next steps, at a minimum will set the administration's tone for dealing with the ambitious 35-year-old prince.

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Critics blame Mohammed bin Salman for the kingdom's imprisonment and alleged torture of peaceful rights advocates, businesspeople and other royals at home and for launching a devastating war in neighboring Yemen and a failed economic blockade against neighboring Qatar, among other actions.

Mohammed bin Salman has consolidated power rapidly since his father, Salman bin Abdulaziz al Saud, in his 80s, became king in 2015. Salman is one of the last living sons of modern Saudi Arabia's original founder.

Given his age and Saudi royals' longevity, the prince could rule for the next half-century, if he follows his aging father to the throne.

"This was in the span of two or three years – just imagine what will happen in the next 40 years if they allow him to rule," Abdullah al Oudh, a Saudi man who has received asylum in the United States after Saudi Arabia imprisoned al Oudh's father in 2017 over a tweet urging Saudi reconciliation with Qatar, said Thursday.

"This guy ... sees the world as a stage for his botched operations," said Oudh, a Gulf research director for Democracy for the Arab World Now, a rights group Khashoggi founded shortly before his murder.

The Saudi Arabia Embassy spokesman in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday. Saudi officials have said Khashoggi's killing was the work of rogue Saudi security and intelligence officials.

The prince said in 2019 he took "full responsibility" for the killing since it happened on his watch, but denied ordering it.

US intelligence findings are coming out more than two years after Khashoggi walked hand-in-hand with his fiancee to the Saudi consulate in Turkey. He planned to pick up documents for their wedding.

The errand was recorded by surveillance cameras that tracked his route and those of his alleged killers in Istanbul in the hours leading up to his killing.

Inside the consulate, Khashoggi died at the hands of more than a dozen Saudi security and intelligence officials and others who had assembled ahead of his arrival.

A Turkish bug planted at the embassy reportedly captured the sound of a forensic saw, operated by a Saudi military colonel who was also a forensics expert, dismembering Khashoggi's body within an hour of his entering the building. The whereabouts of his remains remain unknown.

Much of the damage from the killing of Khashoggi, a gregarious and well-regarded Saudi journalist with influential supporters in the United States and around the world, has already been absorbed by the US-Saudi relationship.

Once in office, Biden said he would maintain whatever scale of relations with Saudi Arabia that US interests required. He also ordered an end to US support for the Saudi-led bombing campaign in Yemen and said he would stop the sale of offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia. He's given few details of what weapons and support he meant.

Asked how the release of the findings would affect Biden's approach toward Saudi Arabia, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday that a range of options was on the table.

"There are areas where we will express concerns and leave open the option of accountability," Psaki said. "There are also areas where we will continue to work with Saudi Arabia, given the threats they face in the region."

Congress in 2019 demanded the release of the report's findings, but the Trump administration refused. The Biden administration agreed to release a declassified version.

Saudi Arabian courts last year announced they had sentenced eight Saudi nationals to prison in Khashoggi's killing. They were not identified.

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The statement said the 84-year-old monarch is being tested at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital. The brief statement did not provide further details.

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The hospital frequently treats royal family members, including recently those who've contracted the coronavirus. The facility is specialized in transplant surgeries, research and training programs.

King Salman has been in power since January 2015. He is considered the last Saudi monarch of his generation of brothers who have held power since the death of their father and founder of Saudi Arabia, King Abdulaziz.

His health is closely watched by observers because of the absolute powers he holds presiding over one of the world's top producers of oil and one of it's biggest economies.

Salman's reign has been marked by quick, sweeping changes in a country accustomed to slow, gradual reforms. Since coming to power, he's taken the country to war in Yemen, hardened the kingdom's stance toward Shiite rival Iran and severed ties with neighboring Qatar.

He's empowered his 34-year-old son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, as his successor. The crown prince's assertive and bold style of leadership, as well as his consolidation of power and sidelining of potential rivals, has been controversial.

With the support of his father, Prince Mohammed has transformed the kingdom in recent years, opening it up to tourists and eroding decades of ultraconservative restrictions in the society as he tries to diversify the Saudi economy away from reliance on oil exports. The prince has also detained dozens of activists and critics, overseen the devastating Yemen war as defense minister and rounded up top members of the royal family in his quest for power.

The crown prince has been stalked by suspicion since the brutal slaying of Washington Post columnist and Saudi critic Jamal Khashoggi in late 2018. Khashoggi's killing inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul drew international condemnation and cast a shadow over Prince Mohammed – even as the kingdom insisted the crown prince had nothing to do with the killing, which was carried out by officials who worked directly for him.

The Saudi king has not been seen in public in recent months due to social distancing guidelines and concerns over the spread of the coronavirus inside the kingdom, which has one of the largest outbreaks in the Middle East. He has been shown, however, in state-run media images attending virtual meetings with his Cabinet and has held calls with world leaders, including as recently as Saturday with Kuwait's ruling emir.

Iraq's new Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi postponed a planned visit to Saudi Arabia on Monday following news of the king's condition, said Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan. A delegation of Iraqi officials had already arrived to Saudi Arabia in preparation for the visit. This would have been al-Kadhimi's first visit to the kingdom as prime minister.

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King Salman, who oversees Islam's holiest sites in Mecca and Medina, was crown prince under King Abdullah and served as defense minister. For more than 50 years prior to that, he was governor of Riyadh, overseeing its evolution from a barren city to a teeming capital.

On Sunday, Kuwait's 91-year-old ruler underwent a "successful" surgery that required the oil-rich nation's crown prince to be temporarily empowered to serve in his place, its state-run news agency reported. Kuwait has yet to elaborate what required Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah to seek a previously unannounced medical treatment beginning Saturday.

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A Saudi court rejected the findings of a UN inquiry by ruling that the killing was not premeditated, but carried out "at the spur of the moment." Saudi Deputy Public Prosecutor and spokesman Shalaan al-Shalaan said the court dismissed charges against three of the 11 people tried, finding them not guilty.

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A senior official in the Trump administration, which critics say has been too soft on Saudi Arabia over the killing of Khashoggi, called the verdicts "an important step" in holding those responsible accountable.

Another senior US official said Washington would go on pressing for full accountability. Khashoggi was a US resident and a critic of the kingdom's de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, also known as MbS.

A source familiar with US intelligence assessments said key US government agencies rejected the validity of the court proceedings and CIA experts still believed the crown prince personally ordered, or at least approved of, the killing.

The source said the five men condemned to death were essentially foot soldiers in the killing, while two senior security officials acquitted played a more significant role.

A Saudi prosecutor said there was no evidence connecting one of those senior officials, Saud al-Qahtani, to the killing and the court dismissed charges against Ahmad Asiri, a former deputy intelligence chief.

Khashoggi was last seen at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2, 2018, where he had gone to obtain documents for his impending wedding. His body was reportedly dismembered and removed from the building, and his remains have not been found.

The murder caused a global uproar, tarnishing the crown prince's image. Some Western governments, as well as the CIA, said they believed he had ordered the killing.

Saudi officials say he had no role, though in September MbS indicated some personal accountability, saying "it happened under my watch."

Agnès Callamard, the UN special rapporteur for extrajudicial summary or arbitrary executions, said the trial verdict was a "mockery" of justice.

"The hit-men are guilty, sentenced to death. The masterminds not only walk free, they have barely been touched by the investigation and the trial," she said on Twitter.

Eleven Saudi suspects were put on trial in secretive proceedings in the capital Riyadh. None of their names were immediately released.

"The investigation showed that the killing was not premeditated ... The decision was taken at the spur of the moment," al-Shalaan said, a position directly contradicting the findings of a United Nations-led investigation.

The UN-led inquiry reported in February that the evidence pointed to "a brutal and premeditated killing, planned and perpetrated" by Saudi officials.

The publisher of The Washington Post, a newspaper for which Khashoggi wrote a column, said the lack of transparency and the Saudi government's refusal to cooperate with independent investigators suggested "a sham trial."

"Those ultimately responsible, at the highest level of the Saudi government, continue to escape responsibility for the brutal murder of Jamal Khashoggi," Fred Ryan said in a statement.

Human rights group Amnesty International said the verdict was a "whitewash" that failed to address the Saudi authorities' involvement or the location of Khashoggi's remains.

However, one of Khashoggi's sons said the verdicts had been fair to his children.

"We affirm our confidence in the Saudi judiciary at all levels, that it has been fair to us and that justice has been achieved," Salah Khashoggi said on Twitter.

Last November, the Saudi prosecutor said Qahtani, a former high-profile Saudi royal adviser, had discussed Khashoggi's activities before he entered the Saudi consulate with the team which went on to kill him.

The prosecutor had said Qahtani acted in coordination with Asiri, who he said had ordered Khashoggi's repatriation from Turkey and that the lead negotiator on the ground then decided to kill him.

Both men were dismissed from their positions but while Asiri was tried, Qahtani was not.

On Monday, al-Shalaan said Asiri has been tried and released due to insufficient evidence, and Qahtani had been investigated but was not charged and had been released.

Al-Shalaan also said the Saudi consul-general to Turkey at the time, Mohammed al-Otaibi, had been freed after Turkish witnesses said al-Otaibi had been with them on the day of the crime. Two weeks ago, the United States barred al-Otaibi from entering the country.

Sources familiar with the matter told Reuters last year that Maher Mutreb, the lead negotiator, and Salah Tubaigy, a forensic expert specializing in autopsies, were also on trial for the murder and could face the death penalty.

On Monday, al-Shalaan said that when the Saudi team that entered the consulate saw it would not be possible to transfer Khashoggi to a safe place to continue negotiating, they decided to kill him.

"It was agreed, in consultation between the head of the negotiating team and the culprits, to kill Jamal Khashoggi inside the consulate," al-Shalaan said in response to questions from journalists.

Turkey said the trial outcome was far from serving justice.

"The fact that important issues like the location of the late Khashoggi's body, the identification of the instigators and, if there are any, the local cooperators, are still in the dark is a fundamental shortcoming to justice being served and accountability," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy said.

Riyadh's criminal court pronounced the death penalty on five defendants "for committing and directly participating in the murder of the victim." The three sentenced to prison were given various sentences totaling 24 years "for their role in covering up this crime and violating the law."

Al-Shalaan added the investigations proved there was no "prior enmity" between those convicted and Khashoggi.

The verdicts can be appealed.

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