US declares bin Salman immune from prosecution over Khashoggi killing

The US has declared the Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman immune from prosecution in a US court case over the 2018 murder of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Late on Thursday the state department made a submission to US district court judge John Bates which stated: “The United States respectfully informs the Court that Defendant Mohammed bin Salman, the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, is the sitting head of government and accordingly, is immune from this suit.”

The CIA has determined that bin Salman ordered the killing. Nevertheless, the state department argued in a July submission to the court that he enjoyed “head-of-state immunity” as de facto ruler although his ailing father, King Salman (86), retains this post. Since the prince’s immunity remained moot, the court case proceeded.

In September, the prince was appointed prime minister in a cabinet reshuffle, making him head of government and ensuring there could be no further debate over his immunity under international law. This will also apply in countries where human rights cases could be raised against Mr bin Salman, who has imprisoned royals, businessmen, and scores of dissidents since becoming crown prince in 2017.

The civil lawsuit in the US was filed last year by Mr Khashoggi’s Turkish fiancee Hatice Cengiz and Democracy for the Arab World Now (Dawn), a Washington-based human rights organisation he founded before his murder.

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“It’s beyond ironic that President Biden has single-handedly assured MBS can escape accountability when it was President Biden who promised the American people he would do everything to hold him accountable,” the head of Dawn, Sarah Leah Whitson, said in a statement, using the prince’s acronym.

Mr Khashoggi was killed and dismembered by Saudi agents in the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul. The plaintiffs had sought punitive and compensatory damages under the 1991 US Torture Victim Protection Act.

During his election campaign, US president Joe Biden referred to Saudi Arabia as a pariah and promised to hold accountable those involved in the murder. While in office, Mr Biden initially refused to speak to the prince. The administration’s attempted shift from rebuke to reconciliation was signalled by Mr Biden’s meeting with Mr bin Salman on the sidelines of a Gulf Co-operation Summit in Jeddah in July.

The Saudis have, however, failed to respond to the overture. It had been hoped they would increase oil exports to compensate for the reduction in Russian supplies because of sanctions over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Instead, the Saudis and their partners have cut exports by two million barrels a day to maintain the high price of oil and good relations with Russia.

Since taking power, the prince has focused on cultivating ties with South Korea, India, Japan and China, which have become principal consumers of Saudi oil.

This week, Mr Biden and the prince did not meet at the Group of 20 industrial powers summit in Indonesia, the first stop in bin Salman’s Asian tour which was followed by a visit to South Korea where Saudi Aramco agreed to invest $7 billion in energy projects. Additional reporting: AP