Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had “absolutely” nothing to do with the killing of Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi, the kingdom’s foreign minister has said.

“Absolutely, his royal highness the crown prince has nothing to do with this issue,” Adel al-Jubeir told reporters in a press conference in Riyadh.

He spoke just hours after Saudi Arabia’s top prosecutor said he was seeking the death penalty for five men who exceeded their authority and carried out the killing.

Mr al-Jubeir said the kingdom is investigating and holding those responsible to account “to make sure this doesn’t happen again”.

“Sometimes mistakes happen… sometimes people exceed their authority,” he said, adding that the kingdom is now focused on ensuring such an operation does not happen again.