US: Saudi Crown Prince Immune From Khashoggi Lawsuit

Facts

• On Thursday, the Biden admin. announced that Saudi Crown Prince and PM Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) should be granted immunity in a lawsuit against him over the 2018 killing of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
• In a court filing late Thursday, the US State Dept. said that MBS, appointed PM in September, now qualifies as a "sitting head of government," which would grant him immunity from legal action under customary international law.
• According to the State Dept., the administration's decision to shield MBS from the jurisdiction of US courts was "purely a legal determination" and not a judgment on the "merits of the present suit." The request, however, is non-binding, meaning a judge will ultimately decide whether the crown prince can be prosecuted.
• Hatice Cengiz, Khashoggi's ex-fiancée, and Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), a Khashoggi-founded human rights organization, filed the lawsuit against MBS and other Saudi officials in a federal district court in Washington.
• Khashoggi was murdered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018. While the US intelligence community concluded that the crown prince ordered the operation, MBS denied any involvement.
• During his 2019 presidential campaign, Biden promised to make the Gulf state's de facto ruler a "pariah" over Khashoggi's murder. In July, however, he visited Saudi Arabia for the first time since taking office amid the impact of the Ukraine war and US sanctions against Russia on the global energy market.

Sources: ABC, Guardian, DW, Associated Press, Reuters, and Washington Post.

Narratives

• Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by Middle East Eye. When MBS was appointed PM by royal decree, it was obvious that the main purpose was to protect him from prosecution for Khashoggi's murder. By now seeking to grant the crown prince immunity, the US is compromising its values and turning its back on its promise of accountability — proving that it isn't concerned with human rights and justice but only with its own interests.
• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by Mint. Of course, the US would like to see justice served in Khashoggi's case. The decision to grant immunity to MBS as the new Saudi Arabian PM is strictly a legal matter, not a political statement. The fact that Washington even-handedly applies the head-of-state immunity doctrine to the crown prince distinguishes the US as a democracy based on the rule of law.