The United States has ruled that Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has immunity from a lawsuit filed by the fiancee of slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Khashoggi, a well-known critic of Saudi Arabia, was assassinated in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018.
US intelligence has said it believes Prince Mohammed ordered the killing.
But in court filings, the US State Department said he was exempt because of his new role as Saudi prime minister.
Khashoggi’s ex-fiancée Hatties Sangs wrote on Twitter that “Jamal passed away again today”.
She – along with the human rights group Democracy for the Arab World Now (Dawn), founded by Mr Khashoggi – was seeking unspecified damages from the Crown in the US for her fiancee’s murder.
The complaint accuses the Saudi leader and his officials of “abducting, imprisoning, drugging, torturing, and murdering Jamal Khashoggi, a US-based journalist and pro-democracy activist.”
Agnes Callamard, Amnesty International’s secretary-general, said: “Today it is impunity. It all adds up to impunity.”
Prince Mohammed was named Crown Prince in 2017 by his father, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. The 37-year-old prince was appointed prime minister in September this year.
He denies any role in Mr Khashoggi’s murder.
Justice Department lawyers said that as “the current head of a foreign government,” the crown prince “entitles the head of state to immunity from the jurisdiction of U.S. courts as a result of that office.”
“The doctrine of head-of-state immunity is well established in customary international law,” Justice Department lawyers said.
But the Biden administration was keen to emphasize that the decision was not a determination of innocence.
“This is a legal decision made by the State Department under long-standing and established principles of customary international law,” a White House National Security Council spokesman said in a written statement.
“It has nothing to do with the merits of the case.”
Saudi Arabia has said the former Washington Post journalist was killed in a “rogue operation” by a team of agents sent to lure him back to the kingdom.
However, US officials said the CIA had concluded “with a medium to high degree of certainty” that MBS – as the prince is known – was involved.
The killing caused an international uproar and damaged the image of Prince Mohammed and his country.
It also led to a major deterioration in US-Saudi relations, with Mr Biden vowing to make Saudi Arabia a “pariah” while campaigning for the presidency in 2019.
Mr. Biden refused to speak to Mohammed bin Salman when he first became president.
But over the summer, President Biden said he wanted to “reset” the relationship ahead of a visit to Saudi Arabia in July.
His visit – in which he was shown fist bumping the crown prince – was criticized as an endorsement of the Saudi government after Mr Khashoggi’s murder.
Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of Dawn, wrote on Twitter: “It is beyond ironic that President Biden has repeatedly assured that MBS can escape accountability while President Biden has promised the American people that he will. We will do everything possible to hold them accountable.”
Thursday’s ruling gave the Saudi leader a “license to kill,” according to the son of exiled former Saudi security official Saad al-Jabri, who accused Prince Mohammed of sending a hit squad to Canada to target and kill his family. Has been installed.
“Having broken his promise to punish MBS for Khashoggi’s murder, the Biden administration has not only shielded MBS from accountability in US courts, but made him more dangerous than ever,” said Khalid al-Jabri. License to kill more critics without consequence”. References to JEE News
Amnesty’s Agnes Callamard wrote on Twitter: “This is a profound betrayal. Another one. First ignored by President Trump, then punched by President Biden… Each time, he had other choices. “
And Nahad Awad, national executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said the Biden administration “sold Jamal Khashoggi’s blood for Saudi oil.”
