France, May 16 -- Both Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) and the kingdom faced intense international uproar over the assassination of Khashoggi in Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul.

Khashoggi, a US resident who wrote critically about the oil-rich kingdom in The Washington Post, was strangled and then dismembered inside the consulate on 2 October, 2018.

In a 2021 report, US intelligence claimed the crown prince was directly responsible for the killing.

However President Donald Trump has since denied MBS' role saying the prince "knew nothing" about the journalist's murder.

Khashoggi's employer, Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), and the rights group Trial International had petitioned the French courts on the matter during MBS' visit to...