The administration of US President Joe Biden has said that Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman should be granted immunity over the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
The CIA concluded that bin Salman ordered the 2018 assassination of Mr Khashoggi at the Saudi embassy in Istanbul, and the UN Commissioner for Human Rights held the state of Saudi Arabia responsible for the “premeditated extrajudicial execution” of the journalist, who was a critic of its monarchy.
However, the Crown Prince – known as MBS – denies prior knowledge of the plot, and eight unnamed people have been jailed in Saudi Arabia in relation to the murder.
In a filing released late on Thursday night, the Biden administration said the crown prince’s recent promotion to the role of prime minister meant that he was “the sitting head of government and, accordingly, immune” from the lawsuit.
“The United States government has expressed grave concerns regarding Jamal Khashoggi’s horrific killing and has raised these concerns publicly and with the most senior levels of the Saudi government,” the Department of Justice said in its filing, adding that the US had also imposed financial sanctions and visa restrictions related to the murder.
“However, the doctrine of head of state immunity is well established in customary international law and has been consistently recognised in longstanding executive branch practice as a status-based determination that does not reflect a judgment on the underlying conduct at issue in the litigation,” it said.
The request is non-binding and a judge will ultimately decide whether to grant immunity.
Mr Khashoggi’s ex-fiancée Hatice Cengiz spoke out against the decision on social media.
"Jamal died again today," Ms Cengiz wrote on Twitter minutes after the news became public.
She added: "We thought maybe there would be a light to justice from #USA But again, money came first. This is a world that Jamal doesn’t know about and me..!"
Saudi officials killed Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. They are believed to have dismembered him, although his remains have never been found.
Mr Biden vowed to make a “pariah” out of Saudi rulers over the 2018 killing of Khashoggi when he ran for leadership of the Democrats.
“I think it was a flat-out murder,” Mr Biden said in a 2019 CNN town hall, as a candidate. “And I think we should have nailed it as that. I publicly said at the time we should treat it that way and there should be consequences relating to how we deal with those — that power.”
