US court dismisses case against Saudi crown prince for murder of Jamal Khashoggi

Washington:

A US judge on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit against Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman over his alleged role in the 2018 murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Washington federal judge John Bates accepted the US government’s position that Prince Mohammed, who was named prime minister of Saudi Arabia in September, enjoys immunity in US courts as a foreign head of state.

Bates said the civil suit brought by Khashoggi’s widow Hatice Cengiz and his activist group DAWN made a “strong” and “meritorious” argument that Prince Mohammed was behind the killing.

But he ruled he had no power to overturn the official position of the US government, which was presented to the court in a formal statement on November 17 that the prince enjoys immunity as a foreign leader.

Even if the prince was appointed prime minister just weeks ago, the executive branch of the US government “remains responsible for foreign affairs, including with Saudi Arabia, and an opposing decision on Bin Salman’s immunity by this Court would render those responsibilities unnecessary.” get in the way,” said Bates. .

He said the “credible” allegations of the assassination, the timing of the prince’s nomination as prime minister and the timing of the US government’s submission made him “uncomfortable”.

But Bates said he had no choice in the matter.

– U.S. intelligence blamed Prince –

Prince Mohammed has been the de facto ruler of the kingdom for several years under his father King Salman.

Khashoggi, one of the prince’s most outspoken critics, was a journalist and activist in the United States when he traveled to Turkey with his fiancée to obtain documents for their marriage from the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

After entering the consulate, Khashoggi was seized and killed by a team of Saudi regime agents, his body dismembered and disposed of.

A Saudi court jailed eight people in 2020 for between seven and 20 years for the murder.

Last year, US President Joe Biden released an intelligence report showing that Prince Mohammed had authorized the operation against Khashoggi, a claim Saudi authorities deny.

The assassination has strained ties between Washington and Riyadh.

But driven by the needs of Middle East politics, particularly the threat posed by Iran, and Saudi Arabia’s power over the oil markets, Biden traveled to the country in July in an effort seen in part as an attempt to leave the murder case behind.

Nevertheless, while there, Biden made mention of it in his conversations with the Crown Prince, calling the killing “outrageous”.

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