Merkel's statement comes just hours after Germany, the UK, and France issued a joint statement in which they said there is an "urgent need for clarification of exactly what happened" to the Washington Post journalist, adding that "hypotheses" proposed in the Saudi investigation must be backed up with facts.

"First, we condemn this act in the strongest terms," Merkel said.

Second, there is an urgent need to clarify what happened - we are far from this having been cleared up and those responsible held to account...as far as arms exports are concerned, those can't take place in the current circumstances.

Khashoggi was last seen on October 2 when he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. After weeks of denial, Riyadh later admitted that he died during a "fistfight" in the building, and authorities announced that 18 people had been detained. However, on Sunday the country's foreign minister told Fox News that Riyadh does not know how Khashoggi was killed or where his body is.

Following the journalist's disappearance, Turkey said that he had been killed by a Saudi assassination squad. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that Ankara will share the full truth of what happened on Tuesday.

READ MORE: Saudis don't know how Khashoggi was killed, incident was ‘aberration, mistake’ - FM