Crown prince Mohammed bin Salman has been named the prime minister of Saudi Arabia by a royal decree.
King Salman bin Abdulaziz also named two other sons — Prince Khalid and Prince Abdulaziz — as defence minister and energy minister respectively.
With the announcement, the King made an exception to Saudi law, formally ceding the dual title of king and prime minister that he held. However, the royal decree, published by the Saudi Press Agency, added that King Salman, 86, will continue to chair some cabinet meetings.
The 37-year-old crown prince has been the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia. But he has been an international pariah since the murder of Washington Post journalist, Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.
It is thought that making him PM is a way to protect him from a lawsuit filed in the US in connection to the murder.
Khashoggi, who is thought to have angered the prince with criticism of his policies, was last seen alive when he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018. The CIA concluded in its report that the prince ordered a “capture-or-kill mission” of the journalist, an accusation the prince vehemently denies.
In 2019 the prince took "full responsibility" for the killing since it happened on his watch, but he denied ordering it. Saudi officials claimed that Khashoggi’s death was the work of rogue Saudi security and intelligence officials.
A US judge sought the Joe Biden administration’s opinion on whether the crown prince is protected under sovereign immunity, usually allowed to a world leader, including a prime minister or a King.
“It seems like [Prince Mohammed] has been advised to take this step before the response of the Biden administration was due on 3 October,” said Abdullah Alaoudh, the Gulf director at Dawn, a pro-democracy group based in Washington, who is a party to the Khashoggi lawsuit.
“Practically, [becoming prime minister] makes no difference,” he was quoted as saying by the Guardian.
President Biden had vowed to turn Saudi Arabia “into a pariah” over the killing, while he used the prince’s former position of deputy prime minister as an excuse to not deal with him, saying that he would deal with the head of state.
However, he visited the kingdom and met with him earlier this year, acknowledging the continued importance of relations with Saudi, also the world’s largest oil exporter.
Prince Mohammed’s elevation also comes amid health concerns surrounding the King, who has been hospitalised several times over the past two years for various ailments. Also the custodian of Islam’s holiest sites, he became the ruler in 2015 after spending over two and half years as crown prince.
