Saudi Arabia will prosecute the suspects in the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Riyadh's foreign minister said on Saturday in response to a call by Turkey for their extradition.
"On the issue of extradition, the individuals are Saudi nationals. They're detained in Saudi Arabia, and the investigation is in Saudi Arabia, and they will be prosecuted in Saudi Arabia," Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said at a regional defence forum in the Bahraini capital.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday called for the extradition of the 18 Saudi nationals who authorities say were involved in the murder of Khashoggi, a Saudi government critic killed in his country's consulate in Istanbul this month.
Khashoggi had gone to the Saudi consulate to collect papers which would allow him to get married to his fiancee on the ill-fated day, after which he was reported missing by his fiancee Hatice Cengiz, who was waiting outside the building for him to re-emerge.
Earlier, Saudi's Attorney General Shaikh Suood bin Abdullah Al Mo'jab confirmed that the journalist's killing was pre-meditated. The report also claims that Khashoggi was murdered by a group of men who had close relations with the Saudi's crown prince.
(With Agency Inputs)
