Biden administration suggests immunity for Saudi crown prince in Jamal Khashoggi killing case
The suggestions by Justice Department are non-binding, as the court will decide whether to grant immunity.
In a major turnaround, the Biden administration has told a US court that Saudi Arabia’s crown prince Mohammed bin Salman should be granted sovereign immunity in a civil case brought against him by the fiancée of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.The US government made these observations in an affidavit submitted to the Washington federal court in the case pertaining to the killing of Khashoggi.
Jamal’s wife Hatice Cengiz and the rights group he founded, Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), have sued the crown prince, his top aides and others for their alleged roles in Khashoggi's killing.
Saudi Arabia says that the prince had no direct role in the 2018 killing of the journalist.
The filings of the Department of Justice revealed on Thursday night stated the administration's decision to try to protect the Saudi crown prince from US courts in Khashoggi's killing is “purely a legal determination”.
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“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.
“However, the doctrine of head of state immunity is well established in customary international law and has been consistently recognized 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, reports the Guardian.
The request is non-binding and a judge will ultimately decide whether to grant immunity.
The response of the administration invited a sharp attack from the executive director of DAWN, Sarah Leah Whitson, calling it an “unnecessary, elective action that will serve only to undermine the most important action for accountability for Khashoggi’s heinous murder”.
“It’s beyond ironic that President Biden has single-handedly assured [Mohammed bin Salman] can escape accountability when it was President Biden who promised the American people he would do everything to hold him accountable. Not even the Trump administration did this,” she said
President Biden had been giving cold shoulder to the crown prince ever since he took the office after US intelligence officials claimed that the journalist was murdered at the behest of the prince.Biden even vowed to make Saudi Arabia a pariah state over the assassination.
(With inputs from agencies)
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