Suit against Saudi prince dropped after US recommends immunity

A federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit against Saudi Arabia’s crown prince after the Biden administration recommended that he be given immunity in the case brought against him by the fiancée of the murdered Washington Post journalist, Jamal Khashoggi 🇧🇷

The judge John Bates said in an opinion that despite its “unease,” the US government told the DC District Court that Prince Mohammed bin Salman is immune, as he also holds the title of prime minister and is therefore “entitled to head of state immunity”.

This discomfort was not only due to the prince’s involvement in Khashoggi’s murder, the judge wrote, but also to the timing of his appointment as Saudi Arabia’s prime minister.

Bin Salman, known as MBS, was only named prime minister – and therefore technical head of the government – ​​in late September, in what observers saw as a ploy to secure immunity from the lawsuit brought by Hatice Cengiz and the advocacy group by Khashoggi, DAWN.

Bates noted the “suspicious timing” of the prince’s appointment and the plaintiffs’ argument that, until now, only the king had been the country’s prime minister.

“A contextualized analysis of the Royal Order [saudita] suggests, therefore, that it was not motivated by a desire for Bin Salman to be the head of the government, but rather to shield him from possible liability in this case,” he wrote.

Bates also issued a resignation to two top MBS aides, Saud al-Qahtani and Ahmed al-Assiri, on jurisdictional grounds.

The Treasury Department said last year that Assiri, then deputy chief of Saudi intelligence, “was the leader of the operation and coordinated with Saud al-Qahtani to organize and dispatch the 15-man team to assassinate and dismember Khashoggi.”

In addition to these three Saudi officials, there were 26 other defendants – but these other defendants have yet to appear in the case.

When the State Department suggested that MBS be given immunity last month, they called Khashoggi’s grisly murder at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul “heinous” but argued he should be given immunity due to the “unbroken practice” of granting it to chiefs. of foreign government.

“The United States has consistently and across administrations applied these principles to heads of state, heads of government and foreign ministers while in office,” Deputy State Department Spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters.

“This is an ongoing practice, and it’s also something we hope others will face in the United States as well.”

Had the government not made that recommendation, Bates wrote Tuesday, the court would have considered arguments that the case against MBS should not be dismissed.

Rather, going against the government’s wishes would “unduly interfere” with its diplomatic responsibilities.