Saudi Arabia denies Turkey's request to extradite 18 Saudi nationals linked to Khashoggi's death

Protesters holding placards demonstrate against the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi outside the Saudi Arabian Embassy in London on October 26, 2018

(Image credit: Jack Taylor/Getty Images)

published 27 October 2018

The Istanbul prosecutor's office requested, and Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir on Saturday denied, the extradition of 18 Saudi nationals in connection to the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the city's Saudi consulate. "They're detained in Saudi Arabia, and the investigation is in Saudi Arabia, and they will be prosecuted in Saudi Arabia," Al-Jubeir said.

Previously, on Friday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan asked Riyadh to surrender Khashoggi's body, which per some reports was dismembered. "He's dead, and this is very clear, but where is his body?" Erdogan said. "You have to show us his body."

After initially denying all knowledge of Khashoggi's whereabouts, then claiming he died in a "fist fight" gone wrong, Saudi Arabia on Thursday said he died in "premeditated" murder.

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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.