Germany’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Heiko Maas announced that 18 Saudi nationals believed to be connected to the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi have been banned from entering Europe’s border-free Schengen zone.
Khashoggi, a critic of de facto Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was killed in Saudi Arabia’s Istanbul consulate last month in a hit which Erdogan says was ordered at the ‘highest levels’ of the Saudi government.
Maas told reporters in Brussels on Monday that Germany issued the ban for the 26-nation zone in close coordination with France, which is part of the Schengen area, and Britain, which is not.
He said “As before, there are more questions than answers in this case, with the crime itself and who is behind it.”
In Berlin, his office said they can’t release the names due to German privacy rules.
Germany had announced it would stop selling weapons to Saudi Arabia in late October until the full facts of Khashoggi’s death were ‘on the table.’
