The government has argued in favor of a claim of legal immunity by Prince Mohammed — the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, who also recently assumed the title of prime minister — in a lawsuit brought by the fiancee of slain Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi and by rights The group founded by Khashoggi, Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN). Khashoggi’s fiancee and DAWN sued the crown prince, his top aides and others in federal court in Washington for their alleged role in Khashoggi’s murder. Saudi Arabia says the prince had no direct role in the killing. “Jamal died again today,” Khashoggi’s fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, tweeted after the US deposition late Thursday. Hatice Cengiz, the fiancee of slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, talks to members of the media outside a court in Istanbul on July 3, 2020, where two former aides to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman were tried in absentia. Cengiz slammed the US government’s stance on her lawsuit on Friday. (Emrah Gurel/The Associated Press) The US government’s finding of immunity for Prince Mohammed, sometimes referred to as MBS, is not binding and a judge will ultimately decide whether to grant immunity. But it angered rights activists and risked a backlash from Democratic lawmakers. The U.S. move came as Saudi Arabia stepped up jailing and other reprisals against peaceful critics at home and abroad and cut oil production, a move seen as undermining efforts by the U.S. and its allies to punish Russia for its war on of Ukraine. Democratic Senator Tim Kaine reacts: I strongly disagree with the administration’s repeated willingness to turn its back on President Biden’s own promises that Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman will be held accountable for his role in the murder of a Virginia journalist who had the courage to expose the cruelty and corruption. https://t.co/PsU23QnSLE —@timkaine The State Department on Thursday called the administration’s call to shield the Saudi crown prince from US courts over Khashoggi’s 2018 killing a “purely legal determination.” He cited what he called longstanding precedent. Despite its recommendation to the court, the State Department said in a filing late Thursday that it “takes no view on the merits of this action and reiterates its unequivocal condemnation of the heinous killing of Jamal Khashoggi.”
Strong words about the campaign
Saudi officials killed Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. It is believed that he was dismembered, although his remains have never been found. The US intelligence community concluded that the Saudi crown prince had approved the killing of the well-known and respected journalist, who had written critically of Prince Mohammed’s harsh ways of silencing those he saw as rivals or critics. The Biden administration’s statement on Thursday noted the visa restrictions and other sanctions it had imposed on junior Saudi officials over the death. “Since the earliest days of this administration, the United States government has expressed its grave concerns about the responsibility of Saudi agents for the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi,” the State Department said. His statement did not mention the alleged role of the crown prince himself. Biden, as the Democratic presidential candidate, has vowed to “pariah” the Saudi rulers over Khashoggi’s 2018 murder. “I think it was a blatant murder,” Biden said at a CNN town hall in 2019, as a candidate. “And I think we should have proven it that way. I said publicly then that we have to deal with it that way, and there should be consequences for how we deal with those forces.” WATCHES | Biden comes in for criticism of MBS greeting, meeting:
Biden asked about his meeting with MBS and Khashoggi’s assassination
At a news conference on Friday, US President Joe Biden fielded questions about his exchange with Mohammed bin Salman over slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi and his first clash with the crown prince of Saudi Arabia. But Biden as president has sought to ease tensions with the kingdom, including clashing with Prince Mohammed on a July trip to the kingdom, as the US works to persuade Saudi Arabia to reverse a series of oil production cuts. “It is beyond ironic that President Biden single-handedly assured MBS that he can avoid accountability when President Biden promised the American people that he would do everything in his power to hold him accountable,” said the head of DAWN, Sarah Leah Whitson, in statement. using the prince’s acronym.
Request for sovereign immunity
Biden in February 2021 ruled out the US government punishing Prince Mohammed himself for the murder of Khashoggi, a resident of the Washington, DC area. Biden, speaking after authorizing the release of a declassified version of the intelligence community’s findings about Prince Mohammed’s role in the assassination, argued at the time that there was no precedent for the US to move against the leader of a strategic partner. People hold posters of Khashoggi near the Saudi consulate in Istanbul during a protest on October 2, 2020. (Emrah Gurel/The Associated Press) The U.S. military has long protected Saudi Arabia from outside enemies, in exchange for Saudi Arabia keeping global oil markets afloat. A federal judge in Washington has given the US government until midnight Thursday to comment on a claim by the crown prince’s lawyers that Prince Mohammed’s high official position gives him legal immunity in the case. The Biden administration also had the option not to comment in any way. Sovereign immunity, a concept rooted in international law, holds that states and their officials are protected from certain legal proceedings in the domestic courts of other foreign states. Upholding the concept of “sovereign immunity” helps ensure that American leaders in turn don’t have to worry about being taken to foreign courts to face lawsuits in other countries, the State Department said.
