A U.S. federal judge on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit against Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for his alleged involvement in 2018 in the murder of journalist Yamal Khashogi.
Magistrate Judge John Bates has ruled that the crown prince is entitled to head of state immunity, after the Biden administration ruled last month that he was legally immune having recently been appointed Saudi prime minister.
«Despite the court’s discomfort with both the circumstances of Bin Salman’s appointment and the credible allegations of his involvement in Khashogi’s murder, the United States has informed the court that he is immune, and Bin Salman is therefore ‘entitled to the right of immunity as head of state … while in office,'» the judge explained.
Bates also pointed to the «suspicious timing» of the prince’s appointment: «A contextualized look at the (Saudi) Royal Warrant suggests that (the appointment) was not motivated by Bin Salman’s desire to be head of government, but to protect him from possible liability in this case».
The lawsuit seeks civil damages and to clarify through the U.S. justice system the level of involvement of senior Saudi officials in Khashogi’s murder, including the release of information from officials and intelligence agents.
Khashogi, a journalist critical of the Saudi royal house and who worked for ‘The Washington Post’, disappeared on October 2, 2018 after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to arrange documents so he could marry Cengiz. There, he was murdered and dismembered, without his remains having been found.
In addition, the magistrate has warned that diplomacy between countries could be disrupted if the judiciary begins to meddle in «foreign immunity decisions» of the executive branch, as the Biden Administration made the recommendation to grant immunity previously, claiming that it was an uninterrupted practice, reports CNN.
The legal team of Khashogi’s romantic partner filed a brief a week ago asking the Biden Administration to withdraw a dossier determining that the Saudi Arabian crown prince has immunity from prosecution in the U.S. case against him.
Keith Harper, Hatice Cengiz’s lawyer, asserted that Mohammed bin Salman seeks to «manipulate the jurisdiction» of the court and secure «impunity for the horrific murder he ordered.» «The court should refuse to protect Mohammed bin Salman for ordering Khashogi’s murder,» the brief read, adding that neither Saudi Arabia nor the United States had «seriously disputed» that the appointment was made «with the deliberate intent» to evade justice.
«In the United States, the president cannot autocratically declare that a family member is the ‘head of government’ in order to evade accountability in a foreign court,» it stated.
